
raas<! G 700 
Book 167 6 



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in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/voyageofvegaroun01nord 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA 



EOUND 



ASIA AND EUEOPE. 



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THE 



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VOYAGE OF THE VEGA 



ROUND 



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ASIA AND EUEOPE 



WITH A HISTORICAL REVIEW 
OF PREVIOUS JOURNEYS ALONG THE NORTH COAST OF THE 

OLD WORLD 



A. E. NOEDENSKIOLD |lf^l^( ^ C jig, 



TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER LESLIE 




y\inH FIVE STEEL PORTRAITS, NUMEROUS MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



MACMILLAN AND CO. 

1882 






Gloo 



By transfer 

MAY 17 I9f6 



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TO HIS MAJESTY 

KING OSCAE 11. 

THE HIGH PEOTECTOR OF THE VEGA EXPEDITION 

THIS SKETCH OF THE VOYAGE 

HE SO MAGNANIMOUSLY AND GENEROUSLY PROMOTED 

IS WITH THE DEEPEST GRATITUDE 

MOST HUMBLY 

BY 



A. E. NOEDENSKIOLD. 



AUTHOR'S PEEFACE. 

This popular account of the voyage of the Vega round Asia 
and Europe is herewith presented to the friends of geographical 
research in an English translation. Along with the sketch 
of the voyage itself, of the natural conditions on the north 
coast of Siberia, of the animal and vegetable life prevailing 
there, and of the races with whom we came in contact in 
the course of the voyage, the work contains a review, as com- 
plete as space permitted, of preceding exploratory voyages 
to the Polar Sea of Europe and Asia, from King Alfeed's 
account of the first North -East voyage under the Northman, 
Othere, down to the expeditions for sport and hunting of 
the past decade. For it would have been too ungrateful, in 
an account of the voyage of the Vega, not to have referred 
at some length to our predecessors, who, with indescribable 
struggles and difficulties, and generally with the sacrifice of 
health and life, paved the way along which we advanced, 
made possible the victory we achieved. In this way, besides, 
the work itself has gained a much-needed variety, for nearly 
all the narratives of the older North-East voyages contain 
in abundance what a sketch of our own adventures has not 
to offer, but what many readers, perhaps, will expect to find 
in a book such as this — accounts of dangers and misfortunes 
of a thousand sorts by land and sea. 

May the prominent part which England and America have 
played in the history of Polar Exploration, and the lively 
interest that everywhere in these countries has been taken in 
the voyage of the Vega, secure for this work a friendly recep- 
tion ; and, above all, may the voyage of the Vega conduce to 
maintain the desire for Arctic Pesearch till the veil which still 
conceals the lands round the North and South Poles be com- 
pletely removed. Many a problem of great importance to 
mankind still waits for a solution from the ice-deserts of the 
Polar Seas and the Polar Lands ; many a splendid victory in 
the service of science is still to be won in those distant 
regions. 

A. E. NOPDENSKIOLD. 

London, Novernhcr, 18S1. 



TKANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



Having been honoured by a request from Baron Nordenskiold 
that I would undertake the translation of the work in which 
he gives an account of the voyage by which the North-East 
Passage was at last achieved, and Asia and Europe circum- 
navigated for the first time, I have done my best to reproduce 
in English the sense of the Swedish original as faithfully as 
possible, and at the same time to preserve the style of the 
author as far as the varying idioms of the two languages 
permit. 

I have to thank two ladies for the help they kindly gave 
me in reading proofs, and my friend Herr GusTAF LiNDSTROM, 
for valuable assistance rendered in various ways. 

Where not otherwise indicated, temperature is stated in 
degrees of the Centrigrade or Celsius thermometer. Longi- 
tude is invariably reckoned from the meridian of Greenwich. 

Where distance is stated in miles without qualification, 
the miles are Swedish (one of which is equal to 6'64 
English miles), except at page 282, where the geographical 
square miles are German, each equal to sixteen English 
geographical square miles. 



ALEX. LESLIE. 



Cheery VALE, Aberdeen, 
Uth November, 1881. 



ERRATA. 

Page 38, under Wood-cut, /or " chammmorus," read "chamaemorus." 
Page 109, line 12 from top, for "remove," read "roll away." 



CONTENTS. 



Inteodxtctiox Page 1 

CHAPTER I. 

Departure — Tromsoe — Members of the Expedition — Stay at Maosoe — Limit of 
Trees — Climate — Scurvy and Antiscorbutics — The tirst doubling of North 
Cape — Othere's account of his Travels — Ideas concerning the Geography of 
Scandinavia current during the first half of the sixteenth century — The 
oldest Maps of the North — Herbertstein's account of Istoma's voyage — 
Gustaf Vasa and the North-East Passage — "VVilloughby and Chaucelor's 
voyages .......... Pages 30—57 



CHAPTER II. 

Departure from Maosoe — Gooseland — State of the Ice — The Vessels of the 
Expedition assemble at Chabarova — The Sanioyed town there — The Church — 
Russians and Samoyeds — Visit to Chabarova in 1875 — Purchase of Samoyed 
Idols — Dress and dwellings of the Samoyeds — Comparison of the Polar 
Races — Sacriticial Places and Samoyed Grave on "Waygats Island visited — 
Former accounts of the Samoyeds — Their place in Ethnography. 

Pages 57—83 

CHAPTER III. 

From the Animal "World of Novaya Zemlya — The Fulmar Petrel — The Rotge or 
Little Auk — Briinnich's Guillemot — The Black Guillemot — The Arctic Puffin 
— The Gulls — Richardson's Skua — The Tern — Ducks and Geese — The Swan 
— "Waders — The Snow Bunting — The Ptarmigan — The Snowy Owl — The 
Reindeer — The Polar Bear — The Arctic Fox — The Lemming — Insects — The 
Walrus— The Seal— Whales Pages 83—130 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea — Rules for Sailing through 
Yugor Schar — The "Highest Mountain" on Earth — Anchorages — Entering 
the Kara Sea — Its Surroundings— The Inland-ice of Novaya Zemlya — True 
Icebergs rare in certain parts of the Polar Sea — The Natural Conditions of 
the Kara Sea — Animals, Plants, Bog-ore — Passage across the Kara Sea— The 
Influence of the Ice on the Sea-bottom — Fresh-water Diatoms on Sea-ice — 
Arrival at Port Dickson — Animal Life there — Settlers and Settlements at the 
Mouth of the Yenisej— The Flora at Port Dickson— Evertebrates— Excursion 
to White Island — Yalmal — Previous Visits— Nummelin's Wintering on the 
BriochoY Islands Pages 131—164 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 



The history of the North-East Passage from 1556 to 1878 — Burrough, 1556 — Pet 
and Jackman, 1580 — The first voyage of the Dutch, 1594 — Oliver Brunei — 
The second voyage, 1595 — The third voyage, 159S — Hudson, 1608 — Gourdon, 
1611— Bosman, 1625— De la Martiniere, 1653— Vlamingh, 1664— Snobberger, 
1675 — Eoule reaches a land north of Novaya Zemlya — Wood and Flawes, 
1676 — Discussion in England concerning the state of the ice in the Polar Sea 
— Views of the condition of the Polar Sea still divided — Payer and 
Weyprecht, 1872-74 • Tages 164—205 



CHAPTER VI. 

The North-east Voyages of the Russians and Norwegians — Rodivan Ivanov, 
1690 — The Great Northern Expedition, 1734-37 — The supposed richness in 
metals of Novaya Zemlya — Juschkov, 1757 — Savva Loschkin, 1760 — 
Rossmuislov, 1768 — Lasarev, 1819— Liitke, 1821-24— Ivanov, 1822-28- 
Pachtussov, 1832-35— Von Baer, 1837— Zivolka and Moissejev, 1838-39— 
Von Krusenstern, 1860-62— The Origin and History of the Polar Sea 
Hunting— Carlsen, l868-~Ed. Johannesen, 1869-70— Ulve, Mack, and 
Quale, 1870 — Mack, 1871 —-Discovery of the Relics of Barents' wintering 
— Tobiesen's wintering, 1872-73— The Swedish Expeditions, 1875 and 1876 
— Wiggins, 1876— Later Voyages to and from the Yenisej Pages 205 — 242 

CHAPTER VII. 

Departure from Port Dickson — Landing on a rocky island east of the Yenisej — 
Self-dead animals — Discovery of crystals on the surface of the drift-ice — 
Cosmic dust — Stay in Actinia Bay — Johannesen's discovery of the island 
Ensamheten — Arrival at Cape Chelyuskin — The natural state of the land and 
sea there — Attempt to penetrate right eastwards to the New Siberian Islands 
— The effect of the mist — Abundant dredging-yield — Preobraschenie Island — 
Separation from the Lena at the mouth of the river Lena. Pages 243 — 270 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The voyage of the Frascr and the Express up the Yenisej and their return to 
Norway — Contract for the piloting of the Lena up the Lena river — The 
voyage of the Lena through the delta and up the river to Yakutsk — The 
natural state of Siberia in general — The river territories — The fitness of the 
land for cultivation and the necepsity for improved communications — The 
great rivers, the future commercial highways of Siberia — Voyage up the 
Yenisej in 1875 — Sibiriakoff 's Island — The tundra — The primeval Siberian 
forest — The inhabitants of Western Siberia : the Russians, the Exiles, the 
"Asiatics" — Ways of travelling on the Yenisej : dog-boats, floating trading 
stores propelled by steam — New prospects for Siberia . Pages 270 — 300 



CHAPTER IX. 

The new Siberian Islands — The Mammoth — Discovery of Mammoth and 
Rhinoceros mummies — Fossil Rhinoceros horns — Stolbovoj Island — Liachoff's 
Island — First discovery of this island — Passage through the sound between 
this island and the mainland — Animal life there — Formation of ice in water 
above the freezing point — The Bear Islands — The quantity and dimensions 
of the ice begin to increase — Different kinds of sea-ice — Renewed attempt to 
leave the open channel along the coast — Lighthouse Island — Voyage along 
the coast to Cape Schelagskoj — Advance delayed by ice, shoals, and fog 



CONTENTS. XV 

— First meeting with the Chukches — Landing and visits to Chukch villages 
— Discovery of abandoned encampments — Trade with the natives rendered 
difl&cult by the want of means of exchange — Stay at Irkaipij — Onkilon 
graves — Information regarding the Onkilon race — Eenewed contact with the 
Chukches — Kolyntschin Bay — -American statements regarding the state of 
the ice north of Behring's Straits — The Fcga beset . Pages 301 — 348 



CHAPTER X. 

"Wintering becomes necessary — The position of the Vega — The ice round the 
vessel — American ship in the neighbourhood of the Vega when frozen in — 
The nature of the neighbouring country — The Vega is prepared for wintering 
— Provision-depSt and observatories established on land — The winter dress 
— Temperature on board — Health and dietary — Cold, wind, and snow — The 
Chukches on board — Menka's visit — Letters sent home — Nordquist and 
Hovgaard's excursion to Menka's encampment — Another visit of Menka — 
The fate of the letters — Nordquist's journey to Pidlin — Find of a Chukch 
grave — Hunting — Scientific work — Life on board — Christmas Eve. 

Pages 349—395 



CHAPTER XL 

Hope of release at the new year — Bove's exeui-sion to the open water — Mild 
weather and renewed severe cold — Mercury frozen — Popular lectures — 
Brusewitz'a excursion to Najtskaj — Another despatch of letters home — The 
natives' accounts of the state of the ice on the coast of Chukch Land — -The 
Chukches caiTy on traffic between Arctic America and Siberia — Excursions in 
the neighbourhood of winter quarters — The weather during spring — The 
melting of the snow — The aurora — The arrival of the migratory birds — The 
animal world of Chukch Land — Noah Elisej's relief expedition — A remarkable 
fish — The country clear of snow — Release — The North-East Passage 
achieved Pages 395 — 451 



CHAPTER XIL 
The history, physique, disposition, and manners of the Chukches Pages 451 — 510 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The development of our knowledge of the north coast of Asia — Herodotus — 
Strabo — Pliny — Marco Polo — Herbertstein's map — The conquest of Siberia 
by the Russians — Deschnev's voyages — Coast navigation between the Lena 
and the Kolyma — Accounts of islands in the Polar Sea and old voyages to 
them — The discovery of Kamchatka — The navigation of the Sea of Okotsk is 
opened by Swedish prisoners-of-war — The Great Northern Expedition — 
Behring — Schalaurov — Andreyev's Land — The New Siberian islands — 
Hedenstrom's expeditions — Anjou and "Wrangel — Voyages from Behring's 
Straits westward — Fictitious Polar voyages . . . Pages 510 — 562 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Passage through Behring's Straits — Arrival at Nunamo — Scarce species of seal — 
Rich vegetation — Passage to America — State of the ice — Port Clarence — The 
Eskimo — Return to Asia — Konyam Bay — Natural conditions there — The ice 
breaks up in the interior of Konyam Bay — St. Lawrence Island — Preceding 
visits to the Island — Departure to Behring Island . . Pages 562 — 592 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE XY. 

The position of Behring Island — Its inhabitants — The discovery of the Island by 
Behring — Behring's death — Steller — The former and present fauna on the 
Island : foxes, sea-otters, sea-cows, sea-lions, and sea-bears — Collection of 
bones of the Ehytina — Visit to a "rookery" — Torporkoff Island — 
Alexander Dnbovski — Yoyage to Yokohama — Lightning stroke. 

Pages 592—620 

CHAPTER XYI. 

Arrival at Yokohama — A Telegram sent to Europe — The stranding of the Steamer 
A. E. Nordenshiold — Fetes in Japan — The Minister of Marine, Kawamura — 
Prince Kito-Shira-Kava — Audience of the Mikado — Graves of the Shoguns — 
Imperial Garden at Tokio — The Exhibition there — Yisit to Enoshima — 
Japanese Manners and Customs — Thunberg and Kampfer . Pages 621 — 644 

CHAPTER XYII. 

Excursion to Asamayama — The iNakasendo road^ — Takasaki — DifRculty of obtain- 
ing Quarters for the Kight — The Baths at Ikaho — Massage in Japan — 
Swedish matches — Travelling in Kago — Savavatari — Criminals — Kusatsu^- 
The Hot Springs and their healing power — Rest at Rokurigahara — The 
Summit of Asamayama — The Descent — Journey over Usui-toge — Japanese 
Actors — Pictures of Japanese Folk-life — Return to Yokohama. 

Pages 644—668 

CHAPTER XYIII. 

Farewell dinner at Yokohama — The Chinese in Japan — Yoyage to Kobe — Purchase 
of Japanese Books — Journey bj^ rail to Kioto — Biwa Lake and the Legend of 
its Origin — Dredging there — Japanese Dancing-Girls — Kioto — The Imperial 
Palace — Temples — Swords and Sword-bearers — Shintoism and Buddhism — 
The Porcelain Manufacture — Japanese Poetry — Feast in a Buddhist Temple 
— Sailing across the Inland Sea of Japan — Landing at Hirosami and Shimo- 
noseki — Nagasaki — ■ Excursion to Mogi — Collection of Fossil Plants — 
Departure from Japan ....... Pages 668 — 693 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Hong Kong and Canton — Stone-polishing Establishments at Canton — Political 
Relations in an English Colony — Treatment of the Natives — Yoyage to 
Labuan — Coal Mines there — Excursion to the shore of Borneo — Malay 
Yillages — Singapore — Yoyage to Ceylon — Point de Galle — The Gem Mines 
at Ratnapoora — Yisit to a Temple — Purchase of Manuscripts — The Popula- 
tion of Ceylon — Dr. Almquist's Excursion to the Interior of the Island. 

Pa^ss- 693— 721 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Journey Home — Christmas, 1879 — Aden — Suez — Cairo— Excursion to the 
Pyramids and the Mokattam Mountains — Petrified Tree-stems— The Suez 
Canal — Landing on Sicily by night — Naples— Rome— The Members of the 
Expedition separate — Lisbon — England — Paris^Copenhagen — Festive Entry 
into Stockholm — Fetes there— Conclusion . . . Pages 721 — 741 



PORTEAITS. 



Engi-aved on Steel by G. J. Stodart of London. 

Adolf Erik ISTordenskiold ...... To face, Title-page. 

Oscar Dickson ......... , , Page 1 

Alexander Sibiriakoff ....... , , , , 3 

Louis Palander ........ ,, ,, 450 



LITHOGRAPHED MAPS. 



1. Map of North. Europe, from Nicholas Donis's edition of Ptolemy's 

Cosmographia, Ulm, 1482 .43 

2. Map of the North, from Jakob Ziegler's Schmulia, Strassburg, 1532 . 44 

3. Map of North Europe from Olai Magni Historia de gentiurii septen- 

trionalmm variis conclitionibits, Basil, 1567 . . . . .45 

4. Russian Map of the North Polar Sea from the beginning of the 17th 

century, published in Holland in 1612 by Isaac Massa . . . 181 

5. Map showing Barents' Third Voyage, from. J, L. Pontani Rerum et urbis 

Amstelodameiismm historia, X-m&t. , 1Q1\ ..... 190 

6. Map of Port Dickson, by G. Bove. Map of Cape Bolvan on Vaygats 

Island, bj' the author. The Lena's cruise in Malygin Sound, by 

A. Hovgaard. Map of Cape Chelyuskin, by G. Bove . . . 243 

7. Sketch- Map of Taimur Sound ; Map of Actinia Bay, both by G. Bove . 252 

8. Map of the Eiver System of Siberia 283 

9. Herbertstein's Map of Eussia, 1550 (photolithographic facsimile) . . 517 
10. Map of the North. Coast of the Old "World from Norway to Behring's 

Straits, with the track of the Vega, constructed from old and 
recent sources, and from observations made during the Voyage of 
the Vega, by N. Selander, Captain in the General Staff . . 740 



LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. 

The wood-aits, when not otherwise stated below, vtere engraved at Kerr Wilhelm 
Meyer's Xylographic Institute in Stockholm. 

PAGE 

1. The Vega under sail, drawn by Captain J. Hiigg .... 1 

2. The Vega —Longitudinal section, drawn by Lieut. C. A. M. Hjulhammar 4 

3. ,, ,, Plan of arrangement under deck, drawn by ditto . . 4 

4. ,, ,, Plan of upper deck, drawn by ditto .... 4 

5. The Lena — Longitudinal section, drawn by Marine-engineer J. Pihlgren 5 

6. ,, ,, Plan of arrangement under deck, drawn by ditto . . 5 

7. ,, ,, Plan of upper deck, drawn by ditto . . , .5 

8. Plag of the Swedish Yacht Club, drawn by V. Andren . . .29 

9. Tromsoe, drawn by R. Haglund . . . . . . .31 

10. Old "World Polar dress, drawn by 0. Sbrling ..... 34 

11. New "World Polar Dress, drawn by Docent A. Kornerup, Copenhagen. 35 

12. Limit of Trees in ISTorway, drawn by K. Haglund, engraved by 

J. Engberg 36 

13. Limit of Trees in Siberia, drawn by ditto ...... 37 

14. The Cloudberry (Bubus Chamceonorus, L.), drawn by Mrs. Professor 

A. Anderssen .......... 38 

15. Norse Ship of the Tenth Century, drawn by Harald Schoyen, Christiania 42 

16. Sebastian Cabot, engraved by Miss Ida Falander . ... .49 

17. Sir Hugh "Willoughby, engraved by J. D. Cooper, London to face page 49 

18. Vardoeinl594. . .52 

19. Vardoe in our days, drawn by E. Haglund ..... 53 

20. (]oast Landscape from Matotschkin Schar, drawn by R. Haglund . 66 

21. Church of Chabarova, drawn by V. Andrdn ..... 61 

22. Samoyed Woman's Hood, drawn by 0. Sorling 65 

23. Samoyed Sleigh, drawn by R. Haglund ...... 66 

24. Lapp Akja, drawn by ditto ; engraved by J. Engberg ... 67 

25. Samoyed Sleigh and Idols , 68 

26. Samoyed Idols, drawn by 0. Sorling 69 

27. Samoyed Hair Ornaments, drawn by ditto ..... 70 

28. Samoyed "Woman's Dress, drawn by E. Haglund ... 71 

29. Samoyed Belt with Knife, drawn by 0. Sorling . . .72 

h 



sx LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. 

PAGE 

30. Sacrificial Eminence on Vaygats Island, drawn by R. Haglund ; 

engraved by J. Engberg 74 

81. Idols from the Sacrificial Cairn, drawn by 0. Sorling .... 75 

32. Sacrificial Cavity on Vaygats Island, drawn by V. Andren . . 77 

33. Samoyed Grave on Vaygats Island, drawn by R. Haglund ; engi-aved 

by 0. DaUback 78 

34. Samoyed Archers 79 

35. Samoyeds from Schleissing's Neu-entdecktes Sieweria . . . ,82 

36. Breeding-place for Little Auks, drawn by R. Haglund ... 84 

37. The Little Auk, or Rotge {MerguUos Alle, L.), drawn by M. "Westergren 86 

38. The Loom, or Briinnich's GmllewiOi (Uria Brunnichii, Sabine), drawn 

by ditto 87 

39. The Arctic Puffin {Mormon Ardicus, L. ), drawn by ditto . . . 89 . 

40. The Black Guillemot (Uria Grylle, L.), drawn by ditto ... 89 

41. Breeding-place for Glaucous Gulls, drawn by R. Haglund ... 90 

42. The Kittiwake (Larus tridactyhos, L.), and the Ivory Gull (Larus 

ehumeus, L.), drawn by M. Westergren . . . . . 92 

43. Rare Northern Gulls — Sabine's Gull [Larus Sabinii, Sabine) — Ross's 

■ Gull (Larus Eossii, Richards), drawn by ditto . . . .93 

44. The Common Skua (Lestris parasitica, L. ) — Buffon's Skua [Lestris 

Buffonii, Boie)^— the Pomarine Skua {Lestris pomarina, Tem.) 

drawn by ditto 94 

45. Heads of the Eider, King Duck, Barnacle Goose, and White-fronted 

GoOse, drawn by ditto 97 

46. Bewick's Swan {Cygnus BewicTcii, Yarr. ), drawn by M. Westergren . 99 

47. Breastbone of Cygnus BewicTcii, showing the peculiar position of the 

windpipe, drawn by ditto ,....,.. 99 

48. Ptarmigan Fell, drawn by R. Haglund 101 

49. The Snowy Owl {Strix nyctea, L.), drawn by M. Westergi-en . . 102 

50. Reindeer Pasture, drawn by R. Haglund ...... 106 

51. Polar Bears, drawn by G. Miitzell, engraved by K. Jahrmargt, both of 

Berlin . . '. , 108 

52. Ditto . . . 113 

53. Walruses, drawn by M. Westergren , 116 

54. Walrus Tusks, drawn by ditto 119 

55. Hunting Implements, drawn by 0. Sorling ' 120 

56. Walrus Hunting, after Olaus Magnus 122 

57. Walruses (female with young) . . 123 

58. Japanese Drawing of the Walrus 124 

59. Voung of the Greenland Seal, drawn by M. Westergren . . , , 126 

60. The Bearded Seal {Phoca harhata, Fabr.), drawn by ditto . . . 127 

61. The Rough Seal {Phoca Mspida, Erxl.), drawn by ditto . . . 127 

62. The White Whale {Bclpliinapterus leucas, Pallas), drawn by, ditto ; 123 

63. Section of' Inland-ice . . 135 

64. View from the Inland-ice of Greenland, drawn by H. Haglund . . 136 

6'5. Slowly advancing Glacier, drawn by ditto , 137 

66. Glacier with Stationary Front, drawn by 0. Sorling .... 137 



LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. xxi 

PAGE 

67. Greenland Ice-fjord, drawn by H. Haglund 138 

68. Umbellula from the Kara Sea, drawn by M. "Westergren . . . 141 

69. Elpidia Glacialis (Theel), from tbe Kara Sea, drawn by ditto . . 142 

70. Manganiferous Iron-ore Formations from the Kara Sea, drawn by 

0. Sorling '.142 

71. Section from the South Coast of Matotschkin Sound, drawn by the 

geologist, E. Erdman . . . . . . . . .144 

72. Map of the Mouth of the Yenisej (zincograph) . . . . .147 

73. Euins of a Simovie at Krestovskoj, drawn by 0. Sorling . . . 148 

74. Sieversia Glacialis, R. Br., from Port Dickson, drawn by Mrs. Prof. 

Anderssen ...... .... 151 

75. Evertebrates from Port Dickson, Yoldia artica, Gray, and Diastylis 

Bathkei, Kr., drawn by M. Westergren . . . . .152 

76. Place of Sacrifice on Yalmal, drawn by R. Haglund . . . - . 158 

77. "Jordgammor" on the Briochov Islands, drawn by ditto . . . 161 

78. Russian " Lodja " 168 

79. Dutch Skipper 177 

80. Capture of a Polar Bear . . . . . . . . .179 

81. Jan Huyghen van Linschoten ........ 182 

82. Kilduin, in Russian Lapland, in 1594 . . . . . .183 

83. Map of Fretum Nassovicum or Yugor Schar ..... 186 

84. LFnsuccessful Fight with a Polar Bear . . ' . . . . 188 

85. Barents' and Rijp's Vessels ........ 191 

86. Barents' House, outside . . . . . . . . .192 

87. Ditto inside . . .193 

88. Jacob van Heemskerk . . ' . . . . . . .195 

89. De la Martiniere's Map 198 

90. Ammonite with Gold Lustre (Ammoniies alternans, v, Buch), drawn by 

M. Westergren 209 

91. View from Matotschkin Schar, drawn by R. Haglund . . .210 

92. Friedrich Benjamin von lAitke, drawn and engraved by Miss Ida 

Falander 213 

93. August Karlovitz Zivolka, drawn and engraved by ditto . . .217 

94. Paul von Krusenstern, Junior, drawn and engraved by ditto . .218 

95. Michael Konstantinovitsch Sidoroif, drawn and engi'aved by ditto , 219 

96. Norwegian Hunting Sloop, drawn by Captain J. Hagg , . . 223 

97. EUing Carlsen, engraved by J. D. Cooper, of London . . . 225 

98. Edward Hohn Johannesen, engraved by ditto 226 

99. Sivert Kristian Tobiesen, engi'aved by ditto ..... 231 

100. Tobiesen's Winter House on Bear Island, drawn by R. Haglund . . 234 

101. Joseph Wiggins, drawn by R. Haglund 239 

102. David Ivanovitsch Schwanenberg, drawn and engraved by Miss Ida 

Fallander 240 

103. Gustaf Adolf Nummelin, drawn and engraved by ditto . . , 241 

104. The Sloop Z7i(?-e?i?iffj« yS'arm, drawn by Captain J. Hagg . ' . 242 

105. The Vega and ie?i« anchored to an Ice-floe, drawn by E. Haglund . 245 



xxii LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. 

PAGE 

106. Hairstar from the Taimur Coast (Aniedon Eschrictii, J. Miiller) drawn 

by M. Westergi-en 248 

107. Form of the Crystals found on the ioe oif the Taimur Coast , . 249 

108. Section of the upper part of the Snow on a Drift-ice Field in 80° N.L. 251 

109. Grass from Actinia Bay {Pleuropogon Sabini, R. Br ), drawn by Mrs. 

Professor Anderssen ......... 254 

110 The Vega and Le7ia saluting Cape Chelyuskin, drawn by E,. Haglund 257 

111. View at Cape Chelyuskin during the stay of the Expedition, drawn 

by ditto . . , , . . . . - . . .258 

112. The Beetle living farthest to the North {Mieralymma Dicksoni, Mackl.) 

drawn by M. Westergren . 259 

113. 2)ra6a ^Zjpma, L., from Cape Chelyuskin, drawn by ditto . . . 260 

114. Ophiurid from the Sea north of Cape Chelyuskin {Ophiacantha bide^i- 

teto, Eetz.), drawn by ditto 262 

n 5. Sea Spider (Pycnogonid) from the Sea east of Cape Chelyuskin, drawn 

by ditto ' , . 265 

116. Preobraschenie Island, drawn by R. Haglund ..... 268 

117. The steamer i^raser, drawn by ditto . . . , . ... 271 

118. The Steamer ieTta, drawn by ditto ....... 277 

119. Hans Christian Johannesen, engraved by J. D. Cooper, London . . 278 

120. Yakutsk in the Seventeenth Century . . . . . . 28i 

121. Yakutsk in our days, drawn by R. Haglund 282 

122. River View on the Yenissej, drawn by ditto ..... 286 

123. Sub-fossil Marine Crustacea from the tundra, drawn by M. Westergren 288 

124. Siberian River Boat, drawn by R. Haglund 292 

125. Ostyak Tent, drawn by ditto 294 

126. Towing with Dogs on the Yenisej, drawn by Professor R. D. Holm . 295 

127. Fishing-boats on the Ob, drawn by R Haglund .... 296 

128. Graves in the Primeval Forest of Siberia, drawn by ditto . . . 297 

129. Chukch Village on a Siberian River, drawn by ditto .... 299 

130. Mammoth Skeleton in the Imperial Museum of the Academy of 

Sciences in St. Petersburg, drawn by M. Westergren . . . 303 

131. Restored Form of the Mammoth 304 

132. Siberian Rhinoceros Horn, drawn by M. Westergren and V. Andren . 307 

133. Stolbovoj Island, drawn by R. Haglund 312 

134. IdotJiea Entomon, Lin., drawn by M. Westergren .... 314 

135. Idothea Sabinei, Kroyer, drawn by ditto . . . . . . 315 

136. Ljachoff's Island, drawn by R. Haglund ...... 317 

137. Beaker Sponges from the Sea off the mouth of the Kolyma, drawn by 

M. Westergren 322 

138. Lighthouse Island, drawn by R. Haglund 323 

139. Chukch Boats, drawn by 0. Stirling .325 

140. A Chukch in Seal-gut Great-coat, drawn and engi'aved by Miss Ida 

Falander . . . . . 326 

141. Chukch Tent, drawn by R. Haglund 328 

142. Section of a Chukch Grave, drawn by 0. Sorling 330 

143. Irkaipij, drawn by R. Haghind 333 



LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. xsiii 

PAGE 

144. Kuins of an Onkilon House, drawn by 0. Soiling .... 334 

145. Implements found in the Euins of an Onkilon House, drawn by ditto 335 

146. Alga from Irkaipij {Laminaria Solidungula, J. G. Ag.), drawn by 

M. Westergren 341 

147. Cormorant from Irkaipij {Graculus Ucrustatus, Pallas), drawn by ditto 842 

148. Piecesof Ice from tbe Coast of the Chukch Peninsula, drawn by 0. Soiling 344 

149. Toross from the neighbourhood of the Vega's Winter Quarters, drawn 

by R. Haglund 350 

150. The Vega in "Winter Quarters, drawn by ditto 355 

151. The "Winter Dress of the Vega men, drawn by Jungstedt . . . 358 

152. Cod from Pitlekaj ((racZtiswa'Uffg'oc, Kolreuter), drawn by M. "W^estergren 362 

153. Kautljkau, a Chukch Girl from Irgunnuk, drawn and engraved by Miss 

Ida Palander '. . 366 

154. Chukches Angling, drawn by 0. Sorling 370 

155. Ice-Sieve, drawn by ditto ......... 371 

156. Smelt from the Chukch Peninsula (Osmerus eperlanns, Lin.), drawn 

by M. "Westergren 372 

157. "Wassili Menka, drawn by 0. Sorling, engraved by Miss Ida Falander. 373 

158. Chukch Dog-Sledge, drawn by ditto 375 

159. Chukch Bone-carvings, drawn by 0. Sorling 382 

160. Hares from Chukch Land, drawn by M. "Westergren . . , . 383 

161. The Observatory at Pitlekaj, drawn by R. Haglund .... 385 

162. An Evening in the Gun-room of the Vega during the Wintering, 

drawn by ditto, engraved by R. Lindgreu . . . . .389 

163. Refraction Halo, drawn by ditto . . 391 

164. Reflection Halo, drawn by ditto . 392 

165. Section of the Beach Strata at Pitlekaj 393 

166. Christmas Eve on the F'e^ft, drawn by Y. Andr^n .... 394 

167. The Open Water 397 

168. The Encampment Pitlekaj abandoned by its Inhabitants on the 18th 

February, 1879 398 

169. Notti and his Wife Aitanga 401 

170. Map of the Region round the Vega's Winter Quarters . , . 407 

171. The Sleeping Chamber in a Chukch Tent .412 

172. Chukch Lamps ■ 413 

173. Section of a Chukch Lamp ........ 414 

174. Chukch Shaman Drum . . . . . . . . .415 

175. The Coast between Padljonna and Enjurmi 416 

176. Bracelet of Copper 417 

177. The North End of Idlidlja Island . . . . . . .418 

178. The Common Aurora-Arc at the Vega's Winter Quarters . . . 426 

179. Aurora at the Vega's Winter Quarters, 3rd March, 1879, at 9 p.m. . 427 

180. Double Aurora-Arcs seen 20th March, 1879, at 9.30 p.m. . . .427 

181. Elliptic Aurora seen 21st March, 1879, at 2.15 A. M 427 

182. Elliptic Aurora seen 21st March, 1879, at 3 A. M 427 

183. Song-Birds in the Rigging of the Yega, June, 1879 . . . ,430 



xxiv LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. 

PAGE 

184. Spoon -billed Sand-piper from Chukch Land {Eurynorhynclma 2W- 

7)icei6s, L.) . . . . . . . . . . • 431 

185. Marmots from Chukch Land 433 

186. Stegocephalios Kessleri, Stuxb. . . 434 

187. Sabinea septemcarinaia, Sabine ........ 434 

188. Aeanthostephia Malmgreni, Goes 435 

189. Ophioglypha nodosa, Liitken ........ 435 

190. Noah Elisej . . . . . . . ... . .438 

191. Beetles from Pitlekaj 441 

192. Phosphorescent Crustacea from Mussel Bay . . . . .442 

193. Eeitinacka ' . . . .443 

194. Dog-Fish from the Chukch Peninsula {Dallia delicatissima, Smith) . 444 

195. Crab from the Sea North of Behring's Straits {CMonoecdes opilio, 

Kreyer) 4J7 

196. Tree from Pitlekaj {Salix Arctiea, Pallas) ....... 448 

197. Typical Chukch Faces .462 

198. „ „ - . 463 

199. Plan of a Chukch Grave 464 

200. Tent Frame at Pitlekaj 466 

201. Chukch Oar 468 

202. Dog Shoe . 470 

203. Chukch Face-Tattooing 472 

204. Chukch Children . -. 473 

205. Snow-Shoes 474 

206. An Aino-Man skating after a Reindeer ...... 475 

207. Hunting Cup and Snow-scraper ....... 476 

208. Chukch Weapons and Hunting Lnplements 477 

209. Chukch Bow and Quiver 478 

210. Chukch Arrows 479 

211. Stone Hammers and Anvil for Crushing Bones ..... 483 

212. Chukch Implements 486 

213. Fire-Drill . . . .489 

214. Ice Mattocks 491 

215. Human Figures . . . 494 

216. Musical Instruments ......... 497 

217. Drawings made by Chukches . . . . . . . 498—499 

218. Chukch Buckles and Hooks of Ivory . 502 

219. Chukch Bone Carvings '. .503 

220. Chukch Doll 505 

221. Chukch Bone Carvings 506—507 

222. Chukch Bone Carvings of Birds .509 

223. Map of the World, said to be of the Tenth Century . . . .513 

224. Map of the World showing Asia to be continuous with Africa . .514 

225. Map of the World after Fra Mauro, from the middle of the Fifteenth 

Century 516 



LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. xxr 

PACE 

226. Map of Asia from an Atlas published by the Russian Academy of 

Sciences in 1737 .......... 533 

227. Peter Feodorovitsch Anjou 554 

228. Ferdinand. von Wrangel 555 

229. Seal from the Behring Sea, Histriopkoca fasciata, Zimni . . . 563 

230. Dra&a ^Z^-^ZHft, L., from St. Lawrence Bay 567 

231. Hunting Implements at Port Clarence. ...... 571 

232. Eskimo Family at Port Clarence '572 

233. Eskimo at Port Clarence 573 

234. Eskimo at Port Clarence 574 

235. Eskimo Fishing Implements, &c. . ... . . . . 575 

236. Eskimo Bone Carvings, &c. . . . . . . . . 578 

237. Eskimo Grave 579 

238. Animal Figure from an Eskimo Grave. ...... 580 

239. Ethnographical Objects from Port Clarence. ..... 581 

240. Shell from Behring's Straits, Fiosus deformis, Eeeve .... 582 

241. Diagram showing the temperature and depth of the water at Behring's 

Sti'aits between Port Clarence and Senjavin Sound, by G. Bove . 583 

242. Konyam Bay 586 

243. Tattooing Patterns from St. Lawrence Island . . . . . 588 

244. Tattooed Woman from St. Lawrence Island . . . . . 589 

245. The " Colony " on Behring Island 594 

246. The " Colony " on Copper Island 595 

247. Natives of Behring Island 597 

248. Skeleton of Rhytina, shown at the Vega Exhibition at the Roj^al Palace, 

Stockholm 607 

249. Original Drawings of the Rhytina . 607 

250. Reconstructed Form of the Sea-Cow 609 

251. Sea Bears, Male, Female, and Young ... ... 611 

252. "Seal Rookery" on St. Paul's Island, one of the Pribylov Islands . 613 

253. Slaughter of Sea-Bears 615 

254. Sea-Bears on their way to " the Rookeries " ..... 616 

255. Alga from the shore of Behring Island, Thalassiophyllum Clathrus, 

Post, and Rupr 618 

256. Fusij^ama 622 

257. The steamer A. E. Norclenskiold stranded on the East Coast of Yezo . 624 

258. Kawamura Sumiyashi, Japanese Minister of Marine .... 625 

259. The Fii-st Medal which was struck as a Memorial of the Voyage of 

the Vega 628 

260. The First Medal which was struck as a Memorial of the Voyage of 

the Vega 629 

261. Stone Lantern and Stone Monument in a Japanese Temple Court. . 632 

262. Japanese House in Tokio 633 

263. Japanese Lady at her Toilette ........ 635 

264. A Jinrikisha 636 

265. Japanese Bedroom . . , . . . . . . . 638 



LIST OF WOOD-CUTS. 



267. 
268. 
269. 
270. 
271. 
272. 
273. 
274. 
275. 
276. 

277. 
278. 
279. 
280. 
281. 
282. 
283. 
284. 
285. 
286. 
287. 

288. 

289. 

290. 
291. 
292. 
293. 
294. 
295. 
296. 
297. 

298. 



Tobacco-Smokers, Japanese Drawing ..... 

Ito-Keske, a Japanese Editor of Thunberg's Writings 

Monument to Tbunberg and Kaempfer at Ifagasaki . 

Japanese Kago ......... 

Japanese Wrestlers ........ 

Japanese Bridge, after a Japanese drawing .... 

Japanese Mountain Landscape, drawn bj^ Prof. P. D. Holm 

Inn at Kusatsn, drawn by E. Hagliind . . . - . 

Bath at Kusatsu, Japanese drawing, drawn by 0. Sorling . 

Japanese Landscape, drawn by Prof. P. D. Holm 

Burden-bearers on a Japanese Koad, Japanese drawing 
0. Sorlins ........ 



drawn by 



Japanese Shop, drawn by V. Andren 

Japanese Court Dress, drawn by ditto ...... 

Noble in Antique Dress, drawn by ditto ...... 

Buddhist Priest, drawn by ditto . . . . . . . 

A Samurai, drawn by ditto . . . . . . . ' . 

Gate across the Road to a Shinto Temple, drawn by Prof. P. D. Holm 

Buddhist Temple at Kobe, drawn by ditto ...... 

Rio-San's Seal ........... 

Burying-Place at Kioto, drawn by Prof. P. D. Holm .... 

Entrance to Nagasaki, drawn by Pi. Haglund . 

Possil Plants from Mogi — 1, 2, Beech Leaves (Fagus ferruginea, Ait., 
var. plioccna, Nath. ), drawn by M. Westergren .... 

Fossil Plant from Mogi — 3, Maple Leaf {Acer Mono. Max., var. 
pliocana, Nath.) .......... 

Fossil Plant from Mogi — Leaf of Zdkova Kcakii, Sieb., var. plioccna, 
Nath., drawn by M. Westergren ....... 

Gem Diggings at Ratnapoora, drawn by R. Haglund .... 

Statues in a Temple in Ceylon, drawn by ditto . . . ^ 

A Country Place in Ceylon, drawn by V. Andren .... 

Highland View from the Interior of Ceylon, drawn by R. Haglund . 

The Sciantific Men of the Vega 

The Officers of the Vega ......... 

The Crew of the Vega, drawn by R. Widing . . . . . 

The Entrance of the Vega into Stockholm on the 24th April, 1880, 
drawn by R. Haglund ......... 

The Vega moored off the Royal Palace, Stockholm, drawn by ditto 



PAGE 

640 
642 
643 
652 
653 
654 
655 
656 
659 
663 

665 
672 
676 

677 
678 
679 
680 
681 
684 
685 
687 

691 

691 

692 
709 
716 
718 
719 
722 
731 
737 

739 
741 




d/^ 



t^^y- 




O 



INTEODUCTION. 



The voyage, which it is my purpose to sketch in this book, 
owed its origin to two preceding expeditions from Sweden to the 
western part of the Siberian Polar Sea, in the course of which 
I reached the mouth of the Yenisej, the first time in 1875 in 
a walrus -hunting sloop, the Proeven, and the second time in 
1876 in a steamer, the Ymer. 

After my return from the latter voyage, I came to the conclu- 
sion, that, ou the ground of the experience thereby gained, and 
of the knowledge which, under the light of that experience, it 
was possible to obtain from old, especially from Russian, explora- 
tions of the north coast of Asia, I was warranted in asserting 
that the open navigable water, which two years in succession 
had carried me across the Kara Sea, formerly of so bad repute, 
to the mouth of the Yenisej, extended in all probability as far 
as Behring's Straits, and that a circumnavigation of the old 
world was thus within the bounds of possibility. 

It was natural that I should endeavour to take advantage 
of the opportunity for making new and important discoveries 
which thus presented itself An opportunity had arisen for 
solving a geographical problem — the forcing a north-east passage 
to China and Japan — which for more than three hundred years 
had been a subject of competition between the world's fore- 
most commercial states and most daring navigators, and which, 

B 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

if we view it in the light of a circumnavigation of the old world, 
had, for thousands of years back, been an object of desire for 
geographers. I determined, therefore, at first to make use, for 
this purpose, of the funds which Mr. A. Sibiriakoff, after my 
return from the expedition of 1876, placed at my disposal for 
the continuation of researches in the Siberian Polar Sea. For 
a voyage of the extent now contemplated, this sum, however, 
was quite insufficient. On this account I turned to His Majesty 
the King of Sweden and Norway, with the inquiry whether any 
assistance in making preparations for the projected expedition 
might be reckoned upon from the public funds. King Oscar, 
who, already as Grown Prince, had given a large contribution 
to the Torell Expedition of 1861, immediately received my pro- 
posal with special warmth, and promised within a short time 
to invite the Swedish members of the Yenisej expeditions and 
others interested in our voyages of exploration in the north, to 
meet him for the purpose of consultation, asking me at the 
same time to be prepared against the meeting with a complete 
exposition of the reasons on which I grounded my views — 
differing so widely from the ideas commonly entertained — of 
the state of the ice in the sea off the north coast of Siberia. 

This assembly took place at the palace in Stockholm, on 
the 26th January, 1877, which may be considered the birth- 
day of the Vega Expedition, and was ushered in by a dinner, to 
which a large number of persons were invited, among whom were 
the members of the Swedish royal house that happened to be 
then in Stockholm ; Prince JoHN OF Glucksburg ; Dr. OsCAR 
Dickson, the Gothenburg merchant ; Baron F. W. von Otter, 
Councillor of State and Minister of Marine, well known for his 
voyages in the Arctic waters in 1868 and 187 1 ; Docent F. R. 
Kjellman, Dr. A. Stuxberg, the former a member of the expedi- 
tion which wintered at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, and of that which 
reached the Yenisej in 1875, the latter, of the Yenisej Expedi- 
tions of 1875 and 1876; and Docents-HjALMAR Theel and A. N. 
LundstrOm, both members of the Yenisej Expedition of 1875. 

After dinner the programme of the contemplated voyage was 
laid before the meeting, almost in the form in which it after- 
wards appeared in print in several languages. There then arose 
a lively discussion, in. the course of which reasons were advanced 
for and against the practicability of the plan. In particular the 
question concerning the state of the ice and the marine currents 
at Cape Chelyuskin gave occasion to an exhaustive discussion. 
It ended by His Majesty first of all declaring himself convinced 
of the practicability of the plan of the voyage, and prepared 
not only as king, but also as a private individual, to give sub- 
stantial support to the enterprise. Dr. Oscar Dickson shared 
His Majesty's views, and promised to contribute to the not 





AoSIBmiAlKOflFo 



INTEODUCTION. 3 

inconsiderable expenditure which the new voyage of exploration 
would render necessary. This is the sixth expedition to the 
high north, the expenses of which have been defrayed to 
a greater or less extent by Dr. O. Dickson.^ , He became 
the banker of the Vega Expedition, inasmuch as to a con- 
siderable extent he advanced the necessary funds, but after 
our return the expenses were equally divided between His 
Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, Dr. Dickson, and 
Mr. Sibiriakoff. 

I very soon had the satisfaction of appointing, as superin- 
tendents of the botanical and zoological work of the expedition 
in this new Polar voyage, my old and tried friends from previous 
expeditions, Docents Dr. Kjellman and Dr. Stuxberg, observers 
so well known in Arctic literature. At a later period, another 
memlDer of the expedition that wintered on Spitzbergen in 
1872-73, Lieutenant (now Captain in the Swedish Navy) L. 
Palander, offered to accompany the new expedition as com- 
mander of the vessel — an offer which I gladly accepted, well 
knowing, as I did from previous voyages, Captnin Palander's 
distinguished ability both as a seaman and an Arctic explorer. 
Further there joined the expedition Lieutenant GlACOMO BoVE, 
of the Italian Navy ; Lieutenant A. Hovgaard, of the Danish 
Navy ; Medical candidate E. Almquist, as medical officer ; 
Lieutenant O. Nordquist, of the Russian Guards ; Jjieutenant 
E. Brusewitz, of the S^vedish Navy ; together with twenty-one 
men — petty officers and crew, according to a list which will be 
found further on. 

An expedition of such extent as that now projected, intended 
possibly to last two years, with a vessel of its own, a numerous 
well-paid personnel, and a considerable scientific staff, must of 
course be very costly. In order somewhat to diminish the 
expenses, I gave in, on the 25th August, 1877, a memorial to 
the Swedish Government with the prayer that the steamer Vega, 
which in the meantime had been purchased for the expedition, 
should be thoroughly overhauled and made completely sea- 
worthy at the naval dockyard at Karlskrona ; and that, as had 
been done in the case of the Arctic Expeditions of 1868 and 
1872-73, certain grants of public money should be given to the 
officers and men of the Royal Swedish Navy, who might take 
part as volunteers in the projected expedition. With reference 
to this petition the Swedish Government was pleased, in terms 
of a letter of the Minister of Marine, dated the 31st December, 
1877, both to grant sea-pay, &c., to the officer and eighteen men 
of the Royal Navy, who might take part in the expedition in 

1 The expeditions to Spitzbergen in 1868, to Greenland in 1870, to 
Spitzbergen in 1872-73, and to the Yenisej in 1875 and 1876 

B 2 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



THE VEGA. 



Longitudiual section. 

1 




Plan of arrangement under deck. 





1. Powder magazine. 

2. Instrument room. 

3. Sofa in gunroom. 

4. Cabin for Lieut. Brusewitz. 

5. Cabin for Lieuts. Bove and 

Hovgaard. 

6. Pantry during winter. 

7. Corridor. 

S. Cabin for Dr. Stuxberg and 

Lieut. Nordquist. 
9. Gunroom. 

10. Table in gunroom. 

11. Cabin for Dr. Almquist. 

12. Cabin for Dr. Kjellman. 

13. Stove. 

li. Cabin for Capt. Palander. 



15. Cttbin for Prof. Nordenskiijld. -..S. 

16. Corridor (descent to gunroom). 30. 

17. Coal bunkers. 

18. Boiler. 31. 

19. Storeroom 'tween decks. 32. 

20. Pilot's cabin. (built in 

21. Cabin for Lieut. Bove' Japan. 33. 

22. Cabin for two petty officers. 34. 

23. Petty officers' mess. 35. 

24. Cabin for carpenter's ) built 

effects. \ in 36. 

25. Cabin for collections, j Japan 37. 

26. Cabin for library. 88. 

27. Gunroom pantry. 39. 

28. Hatch to provision room. 40. 



Plan of upper deck 



Hatch to the cable-tier. 
Hatch to room set apart for 

scientific purposes. 
Galley. 
Bunks for the crew — double 

rows. 
Cable-tier and provision store. ' 
Hatch to store-room. 
Hatch to room for daily giving 

out of provisions. 
Hatch to rope-room. 
Sail-room. 

Storeroom for water and coal. 
Engine-room, .i 
Cellar. 




^® H s©| 




/^ .."3 ® ° (g ■^'- ' 




5|^-g- 



a. Thermometer case. 

&. The rudder. 

c. Binnacle with compass 

g ■ \ Skylights to the gunroom. 

/. Mizenmast. 

g. Descent to the gunroom \ companion common 

Ti. Descent to the engine J to both. 

i. Bridge. 

Tc. Funnel. 

I . Boats lying on gallows. 

in. Mainmast. 



n. Booms (for reserve masts, yards, &c.). 

0. Main hatch. 

p. Steam launch. ■ 

q. Fore hatch. 

r. Hencoops. 

s. "Wa^er closet. 

t. Foremast. 

u. Smoke-cowl. 

V. Descent to lower deck (companion). 

X. "Windlass. 

y. Capstan on the forecastle. 

z. Catheads. 



INTEODUCTION. 



THE LENA. 

Longitudinal section. 




Plan of arrangement under deck. 





Plan of upper deck. 




A. Engine-room. 

B. B. Hold. 

C. Cable. 

D. Water ballast tank. 

E. Forecastle. 

F. F. Coal bunkers. 

G. Firemau'sTabin. 
H. Engineer's cabin. 
K. Provision-room. 
L. Captain's cabin. 
M. Mate's cabin. 

N. Kitchen. 

O. Pantry. 

P. Saloon. 

Q.Q. Presses. 

li. Engine-room companion. 

S. Bridge. 

T. Hatch to hold. 

U. Descent to provision-room. 

V. Winch. 

X. Descent to engine-room. 

Y. Descent to forecastle and engineer's cabin. 

Z. Descent to captain's cabin, saloon, <5:c. 



6 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

question, and at the same time to resolve on making a proposal 
to the Diet in which additional grants were to be asked for it. 

The proposal to the Diet of 1878 was agreed to with that 
liberality which has always distinguished the representatives 
of the Swedish people when grants for scientific purposes have 
been asked for ; which was also the case with a private motion 
made in the same Diet by the President, C. F. W^rn, member 
of the Academy of Sciences, whereby it was proposed to 
confer some further privileges on the undertaking. 

It is impossible here to give at length the decision of the 
Diet, and the correspondence which was exchanged with the 
authorities with reference to it. But I am under an obligation 
of gratitude to refer to the exceedingly pleasant reception I 
met with everywhere, in the course of these negotiations, 
from officials of all ranks, and to give a brief account of 
the privileges which the expedition finally came to enjoy, 
mainly owing to the letter of the Government to the Marine 
Department, dated the 14th June, 1878. 

Two officers and seventeen men of the Royal Swedish 
Navy having obtained permission to take part in the ex- 
pedition as volunteers, I was authorised to receive on account 
of the expedition from the treasury of the Navy, at Karls- 
krona — with the obligation of returning that portion of the 
funds which might not be required, and on giving approved 
security — full sea pay for two years for the officers, petty 
officers, and men taking part in the expedition; pay for the 
medical officer, at the rate of 3,500 Swedish crowns a year, 
for the same time ; and subsistence money for the men belong- 
ing to the Navy, at the rate of one and a half Swedish crowns 
per man per day. The sum, by which the cost of provision* 
exceeded the amount calculated at this rate, was defrayed by 
the expedition, which likewise gave a considerable addition 
to the pay of the sailors belonging to the Navy. I further 
obtained permission to receive, on account of the expedition, 
from the Navy stores at Karlskrona, provisions, medicines, 
coal, oil, and other necessary equipment, under obligation to 
pay for any excess of value over 10,000 Swedish crowns (about 
550/.) ; and finally the vessel of the expedition was permitted 
to be equipped and made completely seaworthy at the naval 
dockyard at Karlskrona, on condition, however, that the excess 
of expenditure on repairs over 25,000 crowns (about 1,375Z.) 
should be defrayed by the expedition. 

On the other hand my request that the Vega, the steamer 
purchased for the voyage, might be permitted to carry the 
man-of-war flag, was refused by the Minister of Marine in 
a letter of the 2nd February 1878. The Veja was therefore 
inscribed in the following month of March in the Swedish 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

Yacht Club. It was thus under its flag, the Stvedish man- 
of-war fiag with a crowned in the Qniddle^ that the first 
circumnavigation of Asia and Europe was carried into effect. 

The Vega, as will be seen from the description quoted further 
on, is a pretty large vessel, which during the first part of 
the voyage was to be heavily laden with provisions and coal. 
It would therefore be a work of some difficulty to get it afloat, 
if, in sailing forward along the coast in new, unsurveyed waters, 
it should run upon a bank of clay or sand. I therefore gladly 
availed myself of Mr. Sibiriakoff's offer to provide for the 
greater safety of the expedition, by placing at my disposal 
funds for building another steamer of a smaller size, the Lena, 
which should have the river Lena as its main destination, but, 
during the first part of the expedition, should act as tender to 
the Vega, being sent before to examine the state of the ice 
and the navigable waters, when such service might be useful. 
I had the Lena built at Motala, of Swedish Bessemer steel, 
mainly after a drawing of Engineer R. Kuneberg of Finland. 
The steamer answered the purpose for which it was intended 
particularly well. 

An unexpected opportunity of providing the steamers with 
coal during the course of the voyage besides arose by my 
receiving a commission, while preparations were making for 
the expedition of the Vega, to fit out, also on Mr. Sibiriakoff's 
account, two other vessels, the steamer Fraser, and the sailing 
vessel JUxpress, in order to bring to Europe from the mouth 
of the Yenisej a cargo of grain, and to carry thither a quantity 
of European goods. This was so much the more advantageous, 
as, according to the plan of the expedition, the Vega and the 
Lena were first to separate from the Fraser and the Express at 
the mouth of the Yenisej. The first-named vessels had thus 
an opportunity of taking on board at that place as much coal 
as there was room for. 

I intend further on to give an account of the voyages of 
the other three vessels, each of which deserves a place in 
the history of navigation. To avoid details I shall only 
mention here that, at the beginning of the voyage which 
is to be described here, the following four vessels were at my 
disposal : — 

1. The Vega,, commanded by Lieutenant L. Palander, of the 
Swedish Navy ; circumnavigated Asia and Europe. 

2. The Lena,, commanded by the walrus-hunting captain. 
Christian Johannesen ; the first vessel that reached the river 
Lena from the Atlantic. 

3. The Fraser, commanded by the merchant captain, Emil 
Nilsson. 

4. The Express, commanded by the merchant captain, 



8 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

Guiidorsen, the first which brought cargoes of graiu from the 
Yenisej to Europe.^ 

When the Vega was bought for the expedition it was de- 
scribed b}" the sellers as follows : — 

"The steamer Verja was built at Bremerhaven in 1872-73, 
of the best oak, for the share-company ' Ishafvet,' and under 
special inspection. It has twelve years' first class Ys I-I- Veritas, 
measures 357 register tons gross, or 299 net. It^was built and 
used for whale-fishing in the North Polar Sea, and strengthened 
in every way necessary and commonly used for that purpose. 
Besides the usual timbering of oak, the vessel has an ice-skin 
of greenheart, wherever the ice may be expected to come at 
the vessel. The ice-skin extends from the neighbourhood of 
the under chain bolts to within from 1'2 to 1"5 metres of the 
keel. The dimensions are : — 

Length of keel ... 37"6 metres. 

Do. over deck 43*4 ,, 

Beam extreme ... ... .. 8"4 ,, 

Depth of hold 4-6 

"The engine, of sixty horse-power, is on Wolff's plan, with 
excellent surface condensers. It requires about ten cubic feet 
of coal per hour. The vessel is fully rigged as a barque, and 
has pitch pine masts, iron wire rigging, and patent reefing 
topsails. It sails and manoeuvres uncommonly well, and under 
sail alone attains a speed of nine to ten knots. During the 
trial trip the steamer made seven and a half knots, but six 
to seven knots per hour may be considered the speed under 
steam. Further, there are on the vessel a powerful steam- 
winch, a reserve rudder, and a reserve propeller. The vessel 
is besides provided in the whole of the under hold with iron 
tanks, so built that they lie close to the vessel's bottom and 
sides, the tanks thus being capable of offering a powerful 
resistance in case of ice pressure. They are also serviceable 
for holding provisions, water, and coal."^ 

We had no reason to take exception to this description.^ 
but, in any case, it was necessary for an Arctic campaign, such 
as that now in question, to make a further inspection of the 

^ The first cargo of goods from Europe to the Yenisej was taken thither 
by me in the Yrner in 1876. The first vessel tliat sailed from the Yenisej 
to the Atlantic was a sloop, The Dawn, built at Yeniseisk, commanded by 
the Russian merchant captain, Schwanenberg, in 1877. 

^ In order to obtain sufficient room for coal and provisions most of these 
tanks were taken out at Karlskrona. 

^ The consumption of coal, however, was reckoned by Captain Palander 
at twelve cubic feet or 0"3 cubic metre an hour, with a speed of seven 
knots. 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

vessel, to assure ourselves that all its parts were in complete 
order, to make the alterations in rig, &c., which the altered 
requirements would render necessary, and finally to arrange 
the vessel, so that it might house a scientific staff, which, 
together with the officers, numbered nine persons. This work 
was done at the Karlskrona naval dockyard, under the direction 
of Captain Palander. At the same time attention was given 
to the scientific equipment, principally in Stockholm, where a 
large number of instruments for physical, astronomical, and 
geological researches was obtained from the Royal Academy 
of Sciences. 

The dietary during the expedition was fixed upon, partly 
on the ground of our experience from the wintering of 1872- 
73, partly under the guidance of a special opinion given with 
reference to the subject by the distinguished physician who 
took part in that expedition, Dr. A. Envall. Preserved pro- 
visions,^ butter, flour, &c., were purchased, part at Karlskrona, 
part in Stockholm and Copenhagen ; a portion of pemmican 
was prepared in Stockholm by Z. Wikstrom ; another portion 
was purchased in England ; fresh ripe potatoes ^ were procured 
from the Mediterranean, a large quantity of cranberry juice 
from Finland ; preserved cloudberries and clothes of reindeer 
skins, &c., from Norway, through our agent Ebeltoft, and so on 
— in a word, nothing was neglected to make the vessel as well 
equipped as possible for the attainment of the great object 
in view. 

What this was may be seen from the following 

PLAN OF THE EXPEDITION, 

PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SWEDEN AND 
NORWAY, July 1877. 

The exploring expeditions, which, during the recent decades, 
have gone out from Sweden towards the north, have long ago 
acquired a truly national importance, through the lively interest 
that has been taken in them everywhere, beyond, as well as 
within, the fatherland ; through the considerable sums of money 
that have been spent on them by the State, and above all by 
private persons ; through the practical school they have formed 
for more than thirty Swedish naturalists ; through the important 

^ The preserved provisions were purchased part from Z. Wikstrom of 
Stockhohn, part from J. D. Beauvois of Copenhagen. 

^ The potatoes were to be delivered at Gothenburg on the 1st July. In 
order to keep, they had to be newly taken up and yet ripe. They were 
therefore procured from the south through Mr. Carl W. Boman of Stock- 
holm. Of these, certainly one of the best of all anti-scorbutics, we had 
still some remaining on our arrival at Japan. 



10 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

scientific and geographical results they have yielded; and through 
the material for scientific research, which by them has been 
collected for the Swedish Riks-Museum, and which has made it, 
in respect of Arctic natural objects, the richest in the world. 
To this there come to be added discoveries and investigations 
which already are, or promise in the future to become, of 
practical importance ; for example, the meteorological and hydro- 
graphical work of the expeditions ; their comprehensive inquiries 
regarding the Seal and Whale Fisheries in the Polar Seas ; the 
pointing out of the previously unsuspected richness in fish, of 
the coasts of Spitzbergen ; the discoveries, on Bear Island and 
Spitzbergen, of considerable strata of coal and phosphatic 
minerals which are likely to be of great economic importance 
to neighbouring countries ; and, above all, the success of the two 
last expeditions in reaching the mouths of the large Siberian 
rivers, navigable to the confines of China — the Obi and Yenisej 
— whereby a problem in navigation, many centuries old, has at 
last been solved. 

But the very results that have been obtained incite to a 
continuation, especially as the two last expeditions have opened 
a new field of inquiry, exceedingly promising in a scientific, and 
I venture also to say in a practical, point of view, namely, the 
part of the Polar Sea lying east of the mouth of the Yenisej. 
Still, even in our days, in the era of steam and the telegraph, there 
meets us here a territory to be explored, which is new to science, 
and hitherto untouched. Indeed, the whole of the immense 
expanse of ocean which stretches over 90 degrees of longitude 
from the mouth of the Yenisej past Cape Chelyuskin — the 
Promontorium Tabin of the old geographers — has, if we except 
voyages in large or small boats along the coast, never yet been 
l^loughed by the keel of any vessel, and never seen the funnel 
of a steamer. 

It was this state of things which led me to attempt to procure 
funds for an expedition, equipped as completely as possible, 
both in a scientific and a nautical respect, with a view to 
investigate the geography, hydrography, and natural history 
of the North Polar Sea beyond the mouth of the Yenisej, if 
possible as far as Behring's Straits. It may be affirmed without 
any danger of exaggeration, that since Cook's famous voyages 
in the Pacific Ocean, no more promising field of research has 
lain before any exploring expedition, if only the state of the 
ice permit a suitable steamer to force a passage in that sea. In 
order to form a judgment on this point, it may perhaps be 
necessary to cast a brief glance backwards over the attempts 
which have been made to penetrate in the direction which the 
projected expedition is intended to take. 

The Swedish port from which the expedition is to start will 



INTEODUCTION. 11 

probably be Gothenburg. The time of departure is fixed for 
the beginning of July, 1878. The course will be shaped at first 
along the west coast of Norway, past North Cape and the 
entrance to the White Sea, to Matotschkin Sound in Novaya 
Zemlya. 

The opening of a communication by sea between the rest 
of Europe and these regions, by Sir Hugh Willoughby and 
Richard Chancelor in 1553, was the fruit of the first exploring 
expedition sent out from England by sea. Their voyage also 
forms the first attempt to discover a north-east passage to 
China. The object aimed at was not indeed accomplished ; but 
on the other hand, there was opened by the voyage in question 
the sea communication between England and the White Sea ; 
the voyage thus forming a turning-point not only in the 
navigation of England and Russia, but also in the com- 
merce of the world. It also demanded its sacrifice, Sir Hugh 
Willoughby himself, with all the men in the vessels under 
his command, having perished while wintering on the Kola 
peninsula. In our days thousands of vessels sail safely along 
this route. 

With the knowledge we now possess of the state of the ice 
in the Murman Sea — so the sea between Kola and Novaya 
Zemlya is called on the old maps — it is possible to sail during 
the latter part of summer from the White Sea to Matotschkin 
without needing to fear the least hindrance from ice. For 
several decades back, however, in consequence of want of 
knowledge of the proper season and* the proper course, the 
case has been quite different — as is sufficiently evident from 
the account of the difficulties and dangers which the renowned 
Russian navigator. Count Llitke, met with during his repeated 
voyages four summers in succession (1821-1824) along the west 
coast of Novaya Zemlya. A skilful walrus-hunter can now, with a 
common walrus-hunting- vessel, in a single summer, sail further 
in this sea than formerly could an expedition, fitted out with 
all the resources of a naval yard, in four times as long time. 

There are four ways of passing from the Murman Sea to 
the Kara Sea, viz : — 

a. Yugor Sound^ — -the Fretum Nassovicum of the old Dutch- 
men — -between Vaygats Island and the mainland. 

l. The Kara Port, between Vaygats Island and Novaya 
Zemlya. 

c. Matotschkin Sound, which between 73° and 74° N. Lat. 
divides Novaya Zemlya into tvv'o parts, and finally, 

cl. The course north of the double island. The course past 
the northernmost point of Novaya Zemlya is not commonly 
clear of ice till the beginning of the month of September, 
and perhaps ought, therefore, not to be chosen for an expedition 



12 TFIE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

having for its object to penetvate far to the eastward in this 
sea. Yugor Sound and the Kara Port are early free of fast 
ice, but instead, are long rendered difficult to navigate by con- 
siderable masses of drift ice, which are carried backwards and 
forwards in the bays on both sides of the sound by the cur- 
rents which here alternate with the ebb and flow of the tide. 
Besides, at least in Yugor Sound, there are no good harbours, 
in consequence of which the drifting masses of ice may greatly 
inconvenience the vessels, which by these routes attempt to 
enter the Kara Sea. Matotschkin Sound, again, forms a 
channel nearly 100 kilometres- long, deep and clear, with the 
exception of a couple of shoals, the position of which is known, 
which induced is not usually free from fast ice until the latter 
half of July, but, on the other hand, in consequence of the 
configuration of the coast, is less subject to be obstructed by 
drift ice than the southern straits. There are good harbours 
at the eastern mouth of the sound. In 1875 and 1876 both 
the sound and the sea lying off it were completely open in 
the end of August, but the ice was much earlier broken up 
also on the eastern side, so that a vessel could without 
danger make its way among the scattered pieces of drift ice. 
The part of Novaya Zemlj^a which is first visited by the 
walrus-hunters in spring is usually just the west coast oft' 
Matotschkin. 

In case unusual weather does not prevail in the regions 
in question during the course of early and mid-summer, 1878 — 
for instance, very steady southerly winds, which would early 
drive the drift ice away from the coast of the mainland — I 
consider, on the grounds which I have stated above, that it 
will be safest for the expedition to choose the course by 
Matotschkin Sound. 

We cannot, however, reckon on having, so early as the begin- 
ning of August, open water direct to Port Dickson at the 
mouth of the Yenisej, but must be prepared to make a con- 
siderable detour towards the south in order to avoid the masses 
of drift ice, which are to be met with in the Kara Sea up to the 
beginning of September. The few days' delay which may be 
caused by the state of the ice here, will afford, besides, to the 
expedition an opportunity for valuable work in examining the 
natural history and hydrography of the channel, about 200 
fathoms deep, which runs along the east coast of Novaya 
Zemlya. The Kara Sea is, in the other parts of it, not deep, but 
evenly shallaw (ten to thirty fathoms), yet without being fouled 
by shoals or rocks. The most abundant animal life is found in 
the before-mentioned deep channel along the east coast, and 
it was from it that our two foregoing expeditions brought 
home several animal types, very peculiar and interesting in a 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

systematic point of view. Near the coast tbe algae, too, are 
rich and luxuriant. The coming expedition ought, therefore, 
to endeavour to reach Matotschkin Sound so early that 
at least seven days' scientific work may be done in those 
regions. 

The voyage from the Kara Sea to Port Dickson is not at- 
tended, according to recent experience, with any difficulty. 
Yet we cannot reckon on arriving at Port Dickson sooner than 
from the 10th to the 15th August. In 1875 I reached this 
harbour with a sailing-vessel on the loth August, after having 
been much delayed by calms in the Kara Sea. With a steamer 
it would have been possible to have reached the harbour, that 
year, in the beginning of the month. In 1876 the state of the 
ice was less favourable, in consequence of a cold summer and a 
prevalence of north-east winds, but even then I arrived at 
the mouth of the Yenisej on the 15th August. 

It is my intention to lie to at Port Dickson, at least for some 
hours, in order to deposit letters on one of the neighbouring 
islands, in case, as is probable, I have no opportunity of meeting 
there some vessel sent out from Yeniseisk, by which accounts 
of the expedition may be sent home. 

Actual observations regarding the hydrography of the coast 
between the mouth of the Yenisej and Cape Chelyuskin are 
for the present nearly wholly wanting, seeing that, as I have 
already stated, no large vessel has ever sailed from this neigh- 
bourhood. Even about the boat voyages of the Russians along 
the coast we know exceedingly little, and from their unsuccessful 
attempts to force a passage here we may by no means draw any 
unfavourable conclusion as to the navigability of the sea during 
certain seasons of the year. If, with a knowledge of the resources 
for the eqaipment of naval expeditions which Siberia now 
possesses, we seek to form an idea of the equipment of the 
Russian expeditions^ sent out with extraordinary perseverance 
during the years 1734-1743 by different routes to the north 
coast of Siberia, the correctness of this assertion ought to be 
easily perceived. There is good reason to expect that a well- 
equipped steamer will be able to penetrate far beyond the point 
where they were compelled to return with their small but 
numerously manned craft, too fragile to encounter ice, and un- 
suitable for the open sea, being generally held together with 
willows. 

^ A carefully written account of these voyages will be found in Reise 
des Kaiserlich-russischen Flatten- Lieutenants Ferdinand von Wrangel Idngs 
der Nordhuste von Siberien und auf dem Eismeere, 1820-1824, bearbeitet 
von G. Engelhardt, Berlin, 1839 ; and G. P. Miiller, Voyages et Decouvertes 
faites par les Russes le long des Cotes de la Mer Glaciale, &c. Amsterdam : 
1766. 



14 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

There are, besides these, only three sea voyages, or perhaps 
more correctly coast journeys, known in this part of the Kara 
Sea, all under the leadership of the mates Minin and Sterlegoff. 
The first attempt was made in 1738 in a "double sloop," 70 feet 
long, 17 broad, and 7-^ deep, built at Tobolsk and transported 
thence to the Yenisej by Lieutenant Owzyn. With this vessel 
Minin penetrated off the Yenisej to 72° 53' N. L. Hence a jolly 
boat was sent further towards the north, but it too was com- 
pelled, by want of provisions, to return before the point named 
by me, Port Dickson, was reached. The following year a new 
attempt was made, without a greater distance being traversed 
than the summer before. Finally in the year 1740 the Kussians 
succeeded in reaching, with the double sloop already mentioned, 
75° 15' N. L., after having survived great dangers from a heavy 
sea at the river mouth. On the 2nd September, just as the 
most advantageous season for navigation in these waters had 
begun, they returned, principally on account of the lateness of 
the season. 

There are, besides, two statements founded on actual observa- 
tions regarding the state of the ice on this coast. For Midden- 
dorff, the Academician, during his famous journey of exploration 
in North Siberia, reached from land the sea coast at Tajmur Bay 
(75° 40' N. L.), Q,ndfotmd the sea on the 25th August, 1843, /?-ee 
of ice as far as the eye could reach from the chain of heights along 
the coast. ' Middendorff, besides, states that the Yakoot Fomin, 
the only person who had passed a winter at Tajmur Bay, declared 
that the ice loosens in the sea lying off it in the first half of 
August, and that it is driven away from the beach by southerly 
winds, yet not further than that the edge of the ice can be 
seen from the heights along the coast. 

The land between the Tajmur and Cape Chelyuskin was 
mapped by means of sledge journeys along the coast by mate 
Chelyuskin in the year 1742. It is now completely established 
that the northernmost promontory of Asia was discovered by 
him in the month of May in the year already mentioned, 
and at that time the sea in its neighbourhood was of course 
covered with ice. We have no observation as to the state of 
the ice during summer or autumn in the sea lying imme- 
diately to the west of Cape Chelyuskin ; but, as the question 
relates to the possibility of navigating this sea, this is the 
place to draw attention to the fact that Prontschischev, on 
the 1st September, 1736, in an open sea, with coasting craft 
from the east, very nearly reached the north point of Asia, 
which is supposed to be situated in 77° 34' N. Lat. and 

1 Th. von Middendorff, Beise in dem dussersten Norden und Osten Siberiens, 
vol. iv. I., pages 21 and 508 (1867). 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

105° E, Long., and that the Norwegian walrus-hunters during 
late autumn have repeatedly sailed far to the eastward from 
the north point of Novaya Zemlya (77° N. Lat., and 68° E. 
Long.), tvithout meeting with any ice. 

From what has been already stated, it is evident that for the 
present we do not possess any complete knovvledge, founded on 
actual observations, of the hydrography of the stretch of coast 
between the Yenisej and Cape Chelyuskin. I, however, consider 
that during September, and possibly the latter half of August, 
we ought to be able to reckon with complete certainty on having 
here ice-free water, or at least a broad, open channel along the 
coast, from the enormous masses of warm water, which the rivers 
Obi, Irtisch, and Yenisej, running up through the steppes of High 
Asia, here pour into the ocean, after having received water from 
a river territory, everywhere strongly heated during the month 
of August, and more extensive than that of all the rivers put 
together, which fall into the Mediterranean and the Black 
Seas. 

Between Port Dickson and White Island, there runs therefore 
a strong fresh- water current, at first in a northerly direction. 
The influence which the rotation of the earth exercises, in these 
high latitudes, on streams which run approximately in the 
direction of the meridian, is, however, very considerable, and 
gives to those coming from the south an easterly bend. In 
consequence of this, the river water of the Obi and Yenisej 
must be confined as in a proper river channel, at first along 
the coast of the Tajmur country, until the current is allowed 
beyond Cape Chelyuskin to flow unhindered towards the 
north-east or east. Near the mouths of the large rivers I 
have, during calm weather in this current, in about 74° 
N. L., observed the temperature rising off the Yenisej to 
-I- 9-4° C. (17th August, 1875), and ofi" the Obi to-|-8°C. 
(10th August of the same year). As is usually the case, this 
current coming from the south produces both a cold under- 
current, which in stormy weather readily mixes with the surface 
water and cools it, and on the surface a northerly cold ice- 
bestrewn counter-current, which, in consequence of the earth's 
rotation, takes a bend to the west, and which evidently runs 
from the opening between Cape Chelyuskin and the northern 
extremity of Novaya Zemlya, towards the east side of this 
island, and perhaps may be the cause why the large masses of 
drift ice are pressed during summer against the east coast of 
Novaya Zemlya. According to my own experience and the 
uniform testimony of the walrus-hunters, this ice melts avxcy 
almost completely during autnmn. 

In order to judge of the distance at which the current coming 
from the Obi and the Yenisej can drive away the drift ice, we 



16 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

ought to remember that even a very weak current exerts an 
influence on the position of the ice, and that, for instance, the 
current from the Plata River, whose volume of water, however, 
is not perhaps so great as that of the Obi and Yenisej, is still 
clearly perceptible at a distance of 1,500 kilometres from the 
river mouth, that is to say, about three times as far as from 
Port Dickson to Cape Chelyuskin. The only bay which can be 
compared to the Kara Sea in respect of the area, which is 
intersected by the rivers running into it, is the Gulf of Mexico.^ 
The river currents from this bay appear to contribute greatly 
to the Gulf Stream. 

The winds which, during the autumn months, often blow in 
these regions from the north-east, perhaps also, in some degree, 
contribute to keep a broad channel, along the coast in question, 
nearly ice-free. 

The knowledge we possess regarding the navigable water 
to the east of Cape Chelyuskin towards the Lena, is mainly 
founded on the observations of the expeditions Avhich were sent 
out by the Russian Government, before the middle of last 
century, to survey the northern part of Asia. In order to form 
a correct judgment of the results obtained, we must, while 
fully recognising the great courage, the extraordinary per- 
severance, and the power of bearing sufferings and overcoming 
difficulties of all kinds, which have always distinguished the 
Russian Polar explorers, always keep in mind that the voyages 
were carried out with small sailing-vessels of a build, which, 
according to modern requirements, is quite unsuitable for vessels 
intended for the open sea, and altogether too weak to stand 
collision with ice. They wanted, besides, not only the powerful 
auxiliary of our time, steam, but also a proper sail rig, fitted 
for actual manoeuvring, and were for the most part manned 
with crews from the banks of the Siberian rivers, who never 
before had seen the water of the ocean, experienced a high 
sea, or tried sailing among sea ice. When the requisite 
attention is given to these circumstances, it appears to me 
that the voyages referred to below show positively that even 
here we ought to be able during autumn to reckon upon a 
navigable sea. 

The expeditions along the coast, east of Cape Chelyuskin, 
started from the town Yakoutsk, on the bank of the Lena, in 
62° N. L., upwards of 900 miles from the mouth of the river. 
Here' also were built the vessels which were used for these 
voyages, 

^ Compare von Middendorff, Beise im Norden u. Osten Siheriens (1848), 
part i., page 59, and a paper by von Baer, Ueher das Klima des Tajmur- 
landes. 



INTEODUCTION. 17 

The first started in 1735, under the command of Marine- 
Lieutenant Prontschischev. After having sailed down the river, 
and passed, on the 14th August, the eastern mouth-arm of the 
Lena, he sailed round the large delta of the river. On the 7th 
September he had not got farther than to the mouth of the 
Olonek. Three weeks had thus been spent in sailing a distance 
which an ordinary steamer ought now to be able to traverse in 
one day. Ice was seen, but not encountered. On the other 
hand, the voyage was delayed by contrary winds, probably blow- 
ing on land, whereby Prontschischev's vessel, if it had in- 
cautiously ventured out, would probably have been cast on 
the beach. The ]ate season of the year induced Prontschischev 
to lay up his vessel for the winter here, at some summer yourts 
built by fur-hunters in 72° 54' N. L. The winter passed 
happily, and the following year (1736) Prontschischev again 
broke up, as soon as the state of the ice in Olonek Bay per- 
mitted, which, however, was not until the 15th August. The 
course was shaped along the coast toward the north-west. Here 
drift ice was met with, but he nevertheless made rapid pro- 
gress, so that on the 1st September he reached 77° 29' N. L., 
as we now know, in the neighbourhood of Cape Chelyuskin. 
Compact masses of ice compelled him to turn here, and the 
Russians sailed back to the mouth of the Olonek, which was 
reached on the 15th September. The distinguished commander 
of the vessel had died shortly before of scurvy, and, some days 
after, his young wife, who had accompanied him on his difficult 
voyage, also died. As these attacks of scurvy did not happen 
during winter, but immediately after the close of summer, they 
form very remarkable contributions to a judgment of the way in 
which the Arctic expeditions of that period were fitted out. 

A new expedition, under Marine-Lieutenant Chariton Laptev, 
sailed along the same coast in 1739. The Lena was left on the 
1st August, and Cape Thaddeus (76° 47' N. L.) reached on the 
2nd September, the navigation having been obstructed by drift 
ice only off Chatanga Bay. Cape Thaddeus is situated only 
fifty or sixty English miles from Cape Chelyuskin. They turned 
here, partly on account of the masses of drift ice which barred 
the way, partly on account of the late season of the year, and 
wintered at the head of Chatanga Bay, which was reached on the 
8th September. Next year Laptev attempted to return along 
the coast to the Lena, but his vessel was nipped by drift ice 
off the mouth of the Olonek. After many difficulties and 
dangers, all the men succeeded in reaching safely the winter 
quarters of the former year. Both from this point and from 
the Yenisej, Laptev himself and his second in command, Chel- 
yuskin, and the surveyor, Tschekin, the following year made a 
number of sledge journeys, in order to survey the peninsula whicli 
projects farthest to the north-west from the mainland of Asia. 

C 



18 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

With this ended the voyages west of the Lena. The northern- 
most point of Asia, which was reached from land in 1742 by 
Chelyuskin, one of the most energetic members of most of the 
expeditions which we have enumerated, could not be reached 
by sea, and still less had any one succeeded in forcing his way 
with a vessel from the Lena to the Yenisej. Prontschischev had, 
however, turned on the 1st September, 1736, only some few 
minutes, and Laptev on the 2nd September, 1739, only about 50' 
from the point named, after voyages in vessels, which clearly 
were altogether unsuitable for the purpose in view. Among 
the difficulties and obstacles which were met Avith during 
these vojj^ages, not only ice, but also unfavourable and stormy 
winds played a prominent part. From fear of not being able to 
reach an}'' winter station visited by natives, the explorers often 
turned at that season of the year when the Polar Sea is most 
open. With proper allowance for these circumstances, we may 
safely affirm that no serious obstacles to sailing round Cape 
Chelyuskin would probably have been met with in the years 
named, by any steamer properly fitted out for sailing among ice. 
From the sea between the Lena and Behring's Straits there 
are much more numerous and complete observations than from 
that further west. The hope of obtaining tribute and commercial 
profit from the wild races living along the coast tempted the 
adventurous Russian hunters, even before the middle of the l7th 
century, to undertake a number of voyages along the coast. On 
a map which is annexed to the previously quoted work of Miiller, 
founded mainly on researches in the Siberian archives, there 
is to be found a sea route pricked out with the inscription, " Route 
ancimnaiicnt fort frdqucnUe. Voyage fait -par oner en IQ^^ par 
trois vaisscaKx o^usses, dont un est parvenu jusquW la Kamschntka." ^ 
Unfortunately the details of most of these voyages have been 
completely forgotten ; and, that we have obtained some scanty 
accounts of one or other of them, has nearly always depended 
on some remarkable catastrophe, on lawsuits or other circum- 
stances which led to the interference of the authorities. This 
is even the case with the most famous of these voyages, that 
of the Cossack, Deschnev, of which several accounts have been 
preserved, only through a dispute which arose betAveen him and 
one of his companions, concerning the right of discovery to a 
Avalrus bank on the east coast of Kamschatka. This voyage, 
however, was a veritable exploring expedition undertaken with 
the approval of the Government, partl}^ for the discovery of some 
large islands in the Polar Sea, about Avhich a number of reports 

^ The map bears the title, " N vivi>lle carte des decoiivertes faites par des 
vaisseaiix Rnssiens, etc.. dres^ee sur des rai^moires aiithentiques de ceux 
qui ont assists a ces decouvertes, et surd'autres coniiaissances dont on rend 
raison d ins nn m^moire separi^. St. Petersbourg a TAcadeniie Imperiale 
des Sciences, 1758." 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

were current among the hunters and natives, partly for extend- 
ing the territory yielding tribute to the Russians, over the yet 
unknown regions in the north-east. 

Deschnev started on the 1st July, 1648, from the Kolyma in 
command of one of the seven vessels (Kotsclur)} manned with 
thirty men, of which the expedition consisted. Concerning the 
fate of four of these vessels we have no information. It is 
probable that they turned back, and were not lost, as several 
writers have siipposed ; three, under the command of the 
Cossacks, Deschnev and Ankudinov, and the fur-hunter, Kolmo- 
gorsov, succeeding in reaching Chutskojnos through what appears 
to have been open water. Here Ankudinov's vessel was ship- 
wrecked ; the men, however, were saved and divided among 
the other two, which were speedily separated. Deschnev con- 
tinued his voyage along the east coast of Kamschatka to the 
Anadir, which was reached in October, Ankudinov is also 
supposed to have reached the mouth of the Kamschatka River, 
where he settled among the natives and finally died of scurvy. 

The year following (1649) Staduchin sailed again, for seven 
days, eastward from the Kolyma to the neighbourhood of 
Chutskojnos, in an open sea, so far as we can gather from the 
defective account. Deschnev's own opinion of the possibility 
of navigating this sea may be seen from the fact, that, after 
his own vessel was lost, he had timber collected at the Anadir 
for the purpose of building new ones. With these he intended 
to send to Yakoutsk the tribute of furs which he had received 
from the natives. He was, however, obliged to desist from his 
project by an easily understood want of materials for the build- 
ing of the new vessels ; he remarks also in connection with this 
that the sea round Chutskojnos is not free of ice every year. 

A number of voyages from the Siberian rivers northward, were 
also made after the founding of Nischni Kolymsk, by Michael 
Staduschin in 1644, in consequence of the reports which were 
current among the natives at the coast, of the existence of large 
inhabited islands, rich in walrus tusks and mammoth bones, 
in the Siberian Polar Sea. Often disputed, but persistently taken 
up by the hunting races, these reports have finally been verified 
by the discovery of the islands of New Siberia, of Wraugel's 
.Land, and of the part of North America east of Behring's Straits, 
whose natural state gave occasion to the golden glamour of 
tradition with which the belief of the common people in- 
correctly adorned the bleak, treeless islands in the Polar Sea. 

All these attempts to force a passage in the open sea from the 
Siberian coasts northwards, failed, for the single reason, that an 

1 Pretty broad, flat-bottomed, keelless vessels, 12 fathoms lon,e:, gene- 
ral! moved forward by rowing : sail only used with fair wind ( Wrangels 
Beise, p. 4). 

c 2 



20 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

open sea with a fresh breeze was as destructive to the craft 
which were at the disposal of the adventurous, but ill-equipped 
Siberian polar explorer as an ice-filled sea; indeed, more dangerous, 
for in the latter case the crew, if the vessel was nipped, generally 
saved themselves on the ice, and had only to contend with 
hunger, snow, cold, and other difficulties to which the most 
of them had been accustomed from their childhood; but in. the 
open sea the ill-built, weak vessel, caulked with moss mixed 
with clay, and held together with willows, leaked already with 
a moderate sea, and with a heavier, was helplessly lost, if a 
harbour could not be reached in time of need. 

The explorers soon preferred to reach the islands by sledge 
journeys on the ice, and thus at last discovered the whole of the 
large group of islands which is named New Siberia. The islands 
were often visited by hunters for the purpose of collecting mam- 
moth tusks, of which great masses, together with the bones 
of the mammoth, rhinoceros, sheep, ox, horse, etc., are found 
imbedded in the beds of clay and sand here. Afterwards they 
were completely surveyed during Hedenstrom's expeditions, fitted 
out by Count Rumanzov, Chancellor of the Russian Empire, in 
the years 1809-1811, and during Lieutenant Anjou's in 1823. 
Hedenstrom's expeditions were carried out by travelling with 
dog-sledges on the ice, before it broke, to the islands, passing 
the summer there, and returning in autumn, when the sea was 
again covered with ice. As the question relates to the possibility 
of navigating this sea, these expeditions, carried out in a very 
praiseworthy way, might be expected to have great interest, 
especially through observations from land, concerning the state 
of the ice in autumn; but in the short account of Hedenstrom's 
expeditions which is inserted in Wrangel's Travels, pp. 99-119, the 
only source accessible to me in this respect, there is not a single 
word on this point. ^ Information on this subject, so important 
for our expedition, has, however, by Mr. Sibiriakoff's care, been 
received from inhabitants of North Siberia, who earn their livingf 
by collecting mammoths tusks on the group of islands in question. 
By these accounts the sea between the north coast of Asia and 
the islands of New Siberia, is every year pretty free of ice. 

Avery remarkable discovery was made in 1811 by a member 
of Hedenstrom's expedition, the Yakoutsk townsman Sannikov ; 
for he found, on the west coast of the island Katelnoj, remains 
of a roughly-timbered winter habitation, in the neighbourhood 
of the wreck of a vessel, differing completely in build from those 
which are common in Siberia. Partly from this, partly from a 

^ Wrangel's own journeys were carried out during winter, with dog 
sledges on the ice, and, however interesting in many other respects, do not 
yield any other direct contribution to our knowledge of the state of the 
ice in summer and autumn. 



INTEODUCTION. 21 

number of tools which lay scattered on the beach, Sahnikov drew 
the conclusion, that a hunter from Spitzbergen or Novaya Zenilya 
had been driven thither by the wind, and had lived there for a 
season with his crew. Unfortunately the inscription on a monu- 
mental cross in the neighbourhood of the hut was not translated. 

During the great northern expeditions,^ several attempts were 
also made to force a passage eastwards from the Lena. The first 
was under the command of Lieutenant Lassinius in 1735. He 
left the most easterly mouth-arm of the Lena on the 21st of 
August, and sailed 120 versts eastward, and there encountered 
drift ice which compelled- him to seek a harbour at the coast. 
Here the wii^ter was passed, with the unfortunate result, that 
the chief himself, and most of the fifty-two men belonging 
to the expedition, perished of scurvy. 

The following year, 1736, there was sent out, in the same 
direction, a new expedition under Lieutenant Dmitri Laptev. 
With the vessel of Lassinius he attempted, in the middle of 
August, to sail eastward, but he soon fell in with a great deal of 
drift ice. So soon as the end of the month — the time when navi- 
gation ought properly to begin — he turned towards the Lena on 
account of ice. 

In 1739 Laptev undertook his third voyage. He penetrated 
to the mouth of the Indigirka, which was frozen over on 
the 21st September, and wintered there. The following year 
the voyage was continued somewhat beyond the mouth of the 
Kolyma to Cape Great Baranov, where further advance was pre- 
vented by drift ice on the 26th September. After having 
returned to -the Kolyma, and wintered at Nischni Kolymsk, he 
attempted, the following year, again to make his way eastwards 
in some large boats built during winter, but, on account of 
fog, contrary winds, and ice, without success. In judging of the 
results these voyages yielded, we must take into consideration 
the utterly unsuitable vessels in which they were undertaken — 
at first in a double sloop, built at Yakoutsk, in 1735, afterwards 
in two large boats built at Nischni Kolymsk. If we may judge 
of the nature of these craft from those now used on the Siberian 
rivers, we ought rather to be surprised that any of them could 
venture out on a real sea, than consider the unsuccessful 
voyages just described as proofs that there is no probability of 
being able to force a passage here with a vessel of modern build, 
and provided with steam pow 3r, 

It remains, finally, for me to give an account of the at- 
tempts that have been made to penetrate westward from 
Behring's Straits, 

'^ This is a common name for the many Russian expeditions which, 
during the years 1734-1743, were sent into the North Polar Sea from the 
Dwina, Obi, Yenisej, Lena, and Kamschatka. 



22 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

Desclinev's voyage, from the Lena, through Behring's Straits 
to the mouth of the Anadir, in 1648, became completely forgotten 
in the course of about a century, until Mliller, by searches in 
the Siberian archives, recovered the details of these and various 
other voyages along the north coast of Siberia. That the 
memory of these remarkable voyages has been preserved to 
after-times, however, depends, as has been already stated, upon 
accidental circumstances, lawsuits, and such like, which led to 
correspondence with the authorities. Of other similar under- 
takings we have certainly no knowledge, although now and then 
we find it noted that the Polar Sea had in former times often 
been traversed. In accounts of the expeditions fitted out by 
the authorities, it, for instance, often happens that mention is 
made of meeting with hunters and traders, who were sailing 
along the coast in the prosecution of private enterprise. Little 
attention was, however, given to these voyages, and, eighty-one 
years after Desclinev's voyage, the existence of straits between 
the north-eastern extremity of Asia and the north-western ex- 
tremity of America was quite unknown, or at least doubted. 
Finally, in 1729, Behring anew sailed through the Sound, and 
attached his name to it. He did not sail, however, very far (to 
172° W. Long.) along the north coast of Asia, although he does 
not appear to have met with any obstacle from ice. Nearly fifty 
years afterwards Cook concluded in these waters the series of 
splendid discoveries with which he enriched geographical 
science. After having, in 1778, sailed a good way eastwards 
along the north coast of America, he turned towards the west, 
and reached the 180th degree of lona^itude on the 29th August : 
the fear of meeting with ice deterred him from sailing further 
westward, and his vessel appears to have scarcely been equipped 
or fitted for sailino- amono- ice. 

After Cook's time we know of only three expeditions which 
have sailed westwards from Behrincy's Straits. The first was an 
American expedition, under Captain Rodgers, in 1855. He 
reached, through what appears to have been open water, the 
longitude of Cape Yakan (176° E. from Greenwich). The second 
was that of the English steam-whaler Long, who, in 1867, in search 
of a new profitable whale-fishing ground, sailed further west than 
any before him. By the 10th August he had reached the 
longitude of Tschaun Bay (170° E. from Greenwich). He was 
engaged in whale-fishing, not in an exploring expedition, and 
turned here ; but, in the short account he has given of his 
voyage, he expresses the decided conviction that a voyage from 
Behring's Straits to the Atlantic belongs to the region of possi- 
bilities, and adds that, even if this sea-route does not come to 
be of any commercial importance, that between the Lena and 
Behring's Straits ought to be useful for turnins: to account the 



INTRODUCTION. 23 

products of Northern Siberia.^ Finally, last year a Eussian 
expedition was sent out to endeavour to reach Wrangel's Land 
from Behring's Straits. According to communications in the 
newspapers, it was prevented by ice from sailing thence, as 
well as from sailing far to the west.. 

Information has been obtained through Mr. Sibiriakoff, from 
North Siberia, regarding the state of the ice in the neighbour- 
ing sea. The hunting in these regions appears to have now 
fallen off so seriously, that only few persons were found who 
could give any answers to the questions put. 

Thus in Yakoutsk there was only one man (a priest) who 
had been at the coast of the Polar Sea. He states that when 
the wind blows off the land the sea becomes free of ice, but 
that the ice comes back when the wind blows on to the land, 
and thereby exposes the vessels which cannot reach a safe 
harbour to great danger. 

Another correspondent states, on the ground of observa- 
tions made during Tschikanovski's expedition, that in 1875 the 
sea off the Olonek w;as completely free of ice, but adds at the 
same time that the year in this respect was an exceptional one. 
The Arctic Ocean, not only in summer, but also during winter, 
is occasionally free of ice, and at a distance of 200 versts from the 
coast, the sea is open even in winter, in what direction, however, 
is imcertain. The latter fact is also confirmed by Wrangel's 
journeys with dog-sledges on the ice in 1821-1823. 

A third person says, " According to the information which I 
have received, the north coast, from the mouth of the Lena to 
that of the Indigirka, is free from ice from July to September. 
The north wind drives the ice towards the coast, but not in 
large masses. According to the observations of the men who 
search for mammoth tusks, the sea is open as far as the 
southern part of the New Siberia Islands. It is probable that 
these islands form a protection against the ice in the Werchnojan 
region. It is otherwise on the Kolyma coast; and if the 
Kolyma can be reached from Behring's Straits, so certainly can 
the Lena." 

The circumstance that the ice during summer is driven from 
the coast by southerly winds, yet not so far but that it returns, 
in larger or smaller quantity, with northerly winds, is further 
confirmed by other correspondents, and appears to me to 
show that the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel's Land only 
form links in an extensive group of islands, running parallel with 
the north coast of Siberia, which, on the one hand, keejDS the 
ice from the intermediate sea from drifting away altogether, and 
favours the formation of ice during winter, but, on the other 

1 Pelermann's Mittheiluiujcn, 1868, p. 1, and 1869, p. 32. 



24 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

hand, protects tlie coast from the Polar ice proper, formed to the 
north of the islands. The information I have received besides, 
refers principally to the summer months. As in the Kara 
Sea, which formerly had a yet worse reputation, the ice here, 
too, perhaps, melts away for the most part during autumn, so 
that at this season we may reckon on a pretty open sea. 

Most of the correspondents, who have given information 
about the state of the ice in the Siberian Polar Sea, concern 
themselves further with the reports current in Siberia, that 
American whalers have been seen from the coast far to the 
westward. The correctness of these reports was always denied 
in the most decided way : yet they rest, at least to some 
extent, on a basis of fact. For I have myself met with a 
whaler, who for three years in a steamer carried on trade with 
the inhabitants of the coast from Cape Yakan to Behring's 
Straits. He was quite convinced that some years at least it 
would be possible to sail from Behring's Straits to the Atlantic. 
On one occasion he had returned through Behring's Straits as 
late as the 17th October. 

From what I have thus stated, it follows, — 
That the ocean lying north of the north coast of Siberia, 
between the mouth of the Yenisej and Tschaun Bay, has never 
been ploughed by the keel of any proper sea-going vessel, still 
less been traversed by any steamer specially fitted out for 
navigation among ice : 

That the small vessels with which it has been attempted 
to traverse this part of the ocean never ventured very far 
from the coast : 

That an open sea, with a fresh breeze, was as destructive for 
them, indeed more destructive, than a sea covered with drift 
ice : 

That they almost always sought some convenient winter har- 
bour, just at that season of the year when the sea is freest of 
ice, namely, late summer or autumn : 

That, notwithstanding the sea from Cape Chelyuskin to 
Behring's Straits has been repeatedly traversed, no one has yet 
succeeded in sailing over the whole extent at once : 

That the covering of ice formed during winter along the coast, 
but probably not in the open sea, is every summer broken up, 
giving origin to extensive fields of drift ice, which are driven, 
now by a northerly wind towards the coast, now by a south 
wind out to sea, yet not so far but that it comes back to the 
coast after some days' northerly wind ; whence it appears 
probable that the Siberian Sea is, so to say, shut off from 
the Polar Sea proper, by a series of islands, of which, for the 
present, we know only Wrangel's Land and the islands which 
form New Siberia. 



INTRODUCTION. 25 

In this connection it seems to me probable that a well- 
equipped steamer would be able without meeting too many 
difficulties, at least obstacles from ice, to force a passage this 
way during autumn in a few days, and thus not only solve a 
geographical problem of several centuries' standing, but also, with 
all the means that are now at the disposal of the man of science 
in researches in geography, hydrography, geology, and natural 
history, survey a hitherto almost unknown sea of enormous extent. 

The sea north of Behring's Straits is now visited by hundreds 
of whaling steamers, and the way thence to American and 
European harbours therefore forms a much-frequented route. 
Some fev/ decades back, this was, however, by no means the case. 
The voyages of Behring, Cook, Kotzebue, Beechey, and others 
were then considered as adventurous, fortunate exploring ex- 
peditions of great value and importance in respect of science, 
but without any direct practical utility. For nearly a hundred 
and fifty years the same was the case with Spangberg's voyage 
from Kamschatka to Japan in the year 1739, by which the 
exploring expeditions of the Russians, in the northernmost part 
of the Pacific Ocean, were connected with those of the Dutch 
and the Portuguese to India and Japan ; and in case our expedition 
succeeds in reaching the Suez Canal, after having circumnavi- 
gated Asia, there will meet us there a splendid work, which, more 
than any other, reminds us, that what to-day is declared by ex- 
perts to be impossible, is often carried into execution to-morrow. 

I am also fully convinced that it is not only possible to sail 
along the north coast of Asia, provided circumstances are not too 
unfavourable, but that such an enterprise will be of incalculable 
practical importance, by no means directly, as opening a new 
commercial route, but indirectly, by the impression which would 
thereby be communicated of the practical utility of a com- 
munication by sea between the ports of North Scandinavia and 
the Obi and Yenisej, on the one hand, and between the Pacific 
Ocean and the Lena on the other. 

Should the expedition, contrary to expectation, not succeed 
in carrying out the programme which has been arranged in its 
entirety, it ought not to be looked upon as having failed. In 
such a case the expedition will remain for a considerable time 
at places on the north coast of Siberia, suitable for scientific 
research. Every mile beyond the mouth of the Yenisej is a step 
forward to a complete knowledge of our globe — an object which 
sometime or other must be attained, and towards which it is 
a point of honour for every civilised nation to contribute in its 
proportion. 

Men of science will have an opportunity, in these hitherto 
unvisited waters, of answering a number of questions regarding 
the former and present state of the Polar countries, of which 



26 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

more than one is of sufficient weight and importance to Jead to 
such an expedition as the present. I may be permitted here 
to refer to only a few of these. 

If we except that part of the Kara Sea which has been 
surveyed by the two last Swedish expeditions, we have for the 
present no knowledge of the vegetable and animal life in the 
sea which washes the north coast of Siberia, Quite certainly we 
shall here, in opposition to what has been hitherto supposed, 
meet with the same abundance of animals and plants as in the 
sea round Spitzbergen, In the Siberian Polar sea, the animal 
and vegetable types, so far as we can judge beforehand, exclusively 
consist of survivals from the glacial period, which next preceded 
the present, which is not the case in the Polar Sea, where the 
Gulf Stream distributes its waters, and whither it thus carries 
types from more southerly regions. But a complete and exact 
knowledge of which animal types are of glacial, and which of 
Atlantic origin, is of the greatest importance, not only for zoology 
and the geography of animals, but also for the geology of Scan- 
dinavia, and especially for the knowledge of our loose earthy layers. 

Few scientific discoveries have so powerfully captivated the 
interest, both of the learned and unlearned, as that of the colossal 
remains of elephants, sometimes well preserved, with flesh and 
hair, in the frozen soil of Siberia. Such discoveries have more 
than once formed the object of scientific expeditions, and care- 
ful researches by eminent men ; but there is still much that is 
enigmatical with respect to a number of circumstances connected 
with the mammoth period of Siberia, which perhaps was con- 
temporaneous with our glacial period. Specially is our know- 
ledge of the animal and vegetable types, which lived contem- 
poraneously with the mammoth, exceedingly incomplete, although 
we know that in the northernmost parts of Siberia, which are 
also most inaccessible from land, there are small hills covered 
with the bones of the mammoth and other contemporaneous 
animals, and that there is found everywhere in that region so- 
called Noah's wood, that is to say, half-petrified or carbonised 
vegetable remains from several different geological periods. 

Taking a general view of the subject, we see that an 
investigation, as complete as possible, of the geology of the 
Polar countries, so difficult of access, is a condition indis- 
pensable to a knowledge of the former history of our globe. In 
order to prove this I need only point to the epoch-making 
influence which has been exerted on geological theories by the 
discovery, in the rocks and earthy layers of the Polar countries, 
of beautiful fossil plants from widely separated geological 
periods. In this field too our expedition to the north coast of 
Siberia ought to expect to reap abundant harvests. There are 
besides to be found in Siberia, strata which have been deposited 



INTEODUCTION. 27 

almost contemporaneously with the coal-bearing formations of 
South Sweden, and which therefore contain animal and vegetable 
petrifications which just now are of very special interest for 
geological science in our own country, with reference to the dis- 
coveries of splendid fossil plants which of late years have been 
made at several places among us, and give us so lively an idea 
of the sub-tropical vegetation which in former times covered the 
Scandinavian peninsula. 

Few sciences perhaps will yield so important practical results 
as meteorology is likely to do at some future date— a fact, or 
rather an already partly realised expectation, which has won 
general recognition, as is shown by the large sums which in 
all civilised countries have been set apart for establishing 
meteorolosjical offices and for encouraging meteorological re- 
search. But the state of the weather in a country is so 
dependent on the temperature, wind, pressure of the air, etc., 
in very remote regions that the laws of the meteorology of a 
country can only be ascertained by comparing observations from 
the most distant regions. Several international meteorological 
enterprises have already been started, and we may almost con- 
sider the meteorological institutions of the different countries as 
separate departments of one and the same office, distributed over 
the whole world, through whose harmonious co-operation the 
object in view shall one day be reached. But, beyond the places 
for which daily series of observations may be obtained, there are 
regions hundreds of square miles in extent from which no 
observations, or only scattered ones, are yet to be had, and here 
notwithstanding we have just the key to many meteorological 
phenomena, otherwise difficult of explanation, within the civilised 
countries of Europe. Such a meteorological territory, unknown, 
but of the greatest importance, is formed by the Polar Sea lying 
to the north of Siberia, and the land and islands there situated. 
It is of great importance for the meteorology of Europe and of 
Sweden to obtain trustworthy accounts of the distribution of the 
land, of the state of the ice, the pressure of the air, and the 
temperature in that in these respects little-known part of the 
globe, and the Swedish expedition will here have a subject for 
investigation of direct importance for our own country. 

To a certain extent the same may be said of the contributions 
which may be obtained from those regions to our knowledge 
of terrestrial magnetism, of the aurora, etc. There are, besides, 
the examination of the flora and fauna in those countries, 
hitherto unknown in this respect, ethnographical researches, 
hydrographical work, etc. 

I have of course only been able to notice shortly the scientific 
questions which will meet the expedition during a stay of some 
length on the north coast of Siberia, but what has* been said 



28 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 

may perhaps be sufficient to show that the expedition, even 
if its geographical objects were not attained, ought to be a 
worthy continuation of similar enterprises which have been set 
on foot in this country, and which have brought gain to science 
and honour to Sweden. 

Should the expedition again, as I hope, be able to reach 
Behring's Straits with little hindrance, and thus in a com- 
paratively short time — in that case indeed tbe time, which on 
the way can be devoted to researches in natural history, will be 
quite too short for solving many of the scientific questions I 
have mentioned. But without reckoning the world-historical 
navigation problem which will tben be solved, extensive con- 
tributions of immense importance ought also to be obtainable 
regarding the geography, hydrography, zoology, and botany 
of the Siberian Polar Sea, and, beyond Behring's Straits, the 
expedition will meet with other countries having a more 
luxuriant and varied nature, where other questions which 
perhaps concern us less, but are not on that account of less 
importance for science as a whole, will claim the attention 
of the observer and yield him a rich reward for his labour 
and pains. These are the considerations which formed the 
grounds for the arrangement of the plan of the expedition which 
is now in question. 

It is my intention to leave Sweden in the beginning of 
July, 1878, in a steamer, specially built for navigation among 
ice, which will be provisioned for two years at most, and 
which, besides a scientific staff of four or five persons, will 
have on board a naval officer, a physician, and at most eighteen 
men — petty officers and crew, preferably volunteers, from your 
Boyal Majesty's navy. Four walrus-hunters will also be hired 
in Norway. The course will be shaped at first to Matotschkin 
Sound, in Novaya Zemlya, where a favourable opportunity 
will be awaited for the passage of the Kara Sea. Afterwards 
the voyage will be continued to Port Dickson, at the mouth 
of the Yenisej, which I hope to be able to reach in the first 
half of August. As soon as circumstances permit, the 
expedition will continue its voyage from this point in the open 
channel which the river-water of the Obi and the Yenisej must 
indisputably form along the coast to Cape Chelyuskin, possibly 
with some short excursions towards the north-west in order 
to see whether any large island is to be found between the 
northern part of Novaya Zemlya and New Siberia. 

At Cape Chelyuskin the expedition will reach the only 
part of the proposed route which has not been traversed by 
some small vessel, and this place is perhaps rightly considered 
as that which it will be most difficult for a vessel to double 
during the whole north-east passage. As Prontschischev, in 



INTEODUCTION. 



29 



1736, in small river craft built witli insufficient means reached 
within a few minutes of this north- westernmost promontory of 
Asia, our vessel, equipped with all modern appliances, ought 
not to find insuperable difficulties in doubling this point, and 
if that be accomplished, we will probably have pretty open 
water towards Behring's Straits, which ought to be reached 
before the end of September. 

If time, and the state of the ice permit, it would be desirable 
that the exj)edition during this voyage should make some ex- 
cursions towards the north, in order to ascertain whether land 
is not to be found between Cape Chelyuskin and the New 
Siberian group of islands, and between it and Wrangel's Land. 
From Behring's Straits the course will be shaped, with such 
stoppages as circumstances give rise to, for some Asiatic port, 
from which accounts may be sent home, and then onwards round 
Asia to Suez. Should the expedition be prevented from 
forcing a passage east of Cape Chelyuskin, it will depend on 
circumstances which it is difficult to foresee, whether it will 
immediately return to Europe, in which case the vessel with its 
equipment and crew may be immediately available for some 
other purpose, or whether it ought not to winter in some suit- 
able harbour in the bays at the mouths of the Tajmur, 
Pjasina, or Yenisej. Again, in case obstacles from ice occur east 
of Cape Chelyuskin, a harbour ought to, be sought for at 
some convenient place on the north coast of Siberia, from 
which, during the following summer, opportunities would be 
found for important surveys in the Polar Sea, and during the 
course of the summer some favourable opening will also cer- 
tainly occur, when southerly winds have driven the ice from 
the coast, for reaching Behring's Straits. Probably also, if 
it be necessary to winter, there will be opportunities of sending 
home letters from the winter station. 








30 THE VOYAGE OF TEE VEGA. [chap. i. 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure — Tromsoe — Members of the Expedition — Stay at Maosoe — Limit 
of Trees — Climate — Scurvy and Antiscorbutics — The first doubling of 
North Cape — Othere's account of his Travels — Ideas concerning the 
Geography of Scandinavia current during the first half of the sixteenth 
century — The oldest Maps of the North — Herbertstein's account of 
Istoma's' voyage — Gustaf Vasa and the North-east Passage — 
Willoughby and Chancelor's voyages. 

The Vega left the harbour of Karlskrona on the 22nd 
June, 1878, Including Lieutenants Palander and Brusewitz, 
there were then on board nineteen men belonging to the 
Swedish navy, and two foreign naval officers, who were to 
take part in the expedition — Lieutenants Hovgaard and 
Bove. The two latter had lived some time at Karlskrona 
in order to be present at the fitting out and repairing of 
the vessel. 

On the 24th June the Vega called at Copenhagen in order to 
take on board the large quantity of provisions which had been 
purchased there. On the 26th June the voyage was resumed to 
Gothenburg, where the Vega anchored on the 27th. During the 
passage there was on board the famous Italian geographer, Com- 
tnendatore Cheistoforo Negri, who, for several years back, 
had followed with special interest all Arctic voyages, and now 
had received a commission from the Government of his native 
country to be present at the departure of the Vega from 
Sweden, and to make himself acquainted with its equip- 
ment, &c. At Gothenburg there embarked Docent Kj ell- 
man. Dr. Almquist, Dr. Stuxberg, Lieutenant Nordquist, 
and an assistant to the naturalists, who had been hired in 
Stockholm ; and here were taken on board the greater part 
of the scientific equipment of the expedition, and various 
stocks of provisions, clothes, &c., that had been purchased 
in Sweden. 

On the 4th July the Vega left the harbour of Gothenburg, 
While sailing along the west coast of Norway there blew a 
fresh head wind, by which the arrival of the vessel at Tromsoe 
was delayed till the l7th July. Here I went on board. Coal, 
water, reindeer furs ^ for all our men, and a large quantity of 

1 In many Polar expeditions, sealskin has been used as clothing instead 
of reindeer skin. The reindeer skin, however, is lighter and warmer, and 
ought therefore to have an unconditional preference as a means of pro- 
tection against severe cold. In mild weather, clothing made of reindeer 
skin in the common way has indeed the defect that it is drenched 
through with water, and thereby becomes useless, but in, such weather it 



i? 



I 1 1{ li I' 

''N'liilfilBv 




82 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

other stores, bought in Finmark for the expedition, were taken 
in here ; and three walrus-hunters, hired for the voyage, 
embarked. 

On the 21st July the whole equipment of the Vega was on 
board, the number of its crew complete, all clear for departure, 
and the same day at 2.15 p.m. we weighed anchor, with lively 
hurrahs from a numerous crowd assembled at the beach, to 
enter in earnest on our Arctic voyage. 

The members of the expedition on board the Vega were — 

A. E. Nordenskiold, Professor, in com- 
mand of the expedition . . . . . born 18th Nov, 1832 

A. A. L. Palander, Lieutenant, now Cap- 
tain in the Royal Swedish Navy, chief 
of the steamer Vega . . . . . ,, 2nd Oct. 1840 

F. R. Kjellman, Ph.D., Decent in Botany 
in the University of Upsala, superin- 
tendent of the botanical work of the 

expedition „ 4th Nov. 1846 

A. J. Stuxberg, Ph.D., superintendent 

of the zoological work ,, 18th April 1849 

E. ..Almquist, Candidate of Medicine, 

medical officer of the expedition, 

lichenologist ,, 8th Aug. 1852 

E. C. Brusewitz, Lieutenant in the Royal 

Swedish Navy, second in command of 

the vessel „ 1st Dec. 1844 

G. Bove, Lieutenant in the Royal Italian 
Navy, superintendent of the hydrogra- 

phical work of the expedition ... „ 23rd Oct. 1853 

A. -Hovgaard, Lieutenant in the Royal 
Danish Navy, superintendent of the 
magnetical and meteorological work 
of the expedition ....... ,, 1st Nov. 1853 

O. Nordquist, Lieutenant in the Im- 
perial Russian Regiment of Guards, 
interpreter, assistant zoologist ... „ 20th May 1858 

R. Nilsson, sailing-master „ 5th Jan. 1837 

is in general unnecessary to use furs. The coast Chukchis, who catch 
great numbers of seals, but can only obtain reindeer skins by purchase, 
yet consider clothing made of the latter material indispensable in winter. 
During this season they wear an overcoat of the same form as the Lapps' 
pesk, the suitableness of whose cut thus appears to be well proved. On 
this account I prefer the old-world Polar dress to that of the new, which 
consists of more closely fitting clothes. The Lapp shoes of reindeer skin 
{rensTaallar, homager) are, on the other hand, if one has not opportunity 
to change them frequently, nor time to take sufiScient care of tiiem, quite 
unserviceable for Arctic journeys. 



I.] 



MEMBF^ES OF THE EXP.EDITION. 



33 



r. A. Pettersson, first engineer 
0. Nordstrom, second engineer 
C. Carlstrom, fireman 
0. Ingelsson, fireman 
O. Oeman, seaman 
G. Carlsson, seaman . 

C. Lundgren, seaman . 
O. Hansson, seaman . 

D. Asplund, boatswain, cook 
C. J. Smaolaenning, boatswain 
C. Levin, boatswain, steward 
P. M. Lustig, boatswain 
C Ljungstrom, boatswain 
P. Lind, boatswain 
P. 0. Faeste, boatswain 
S. Andersson, carpenter . 
J. Haugan, walras-hunter^ 
P. Johnsen, walrus-hunter 
P. Sivertsen, walrus-hunter 
Th. A. Bostrom, assistant to the scientific 



men 



born 8rd Ju]y 1835 

„ 24th Feb. 1855 

., 14th Dec. 1845 

„ 2nd Feb. 1849 

, 23rd April 1843 

„ 22nd Sep. 1843 

„ 5th July 1851 

., 6th April 1856 

„ 28th Jan. 1827 

„ 27th Sep. 1839 

„ 24th Jan. 1844 

„ 22ndAprill845 

„ 12th Oct. 1845 

„ 15th Sep. 1856 

„ 23rd Sep. 1856 

„ 3rd Sep. 1847 

„ 23rd Jan. 1825 

„ 15th May 1845 

„ 2nd Jan. 1853 

„ 21st Sep. 1857 



There was also on board the Vega during the voyage from 
Tromsoe to Port Dickson, as commissioner for Mr. Sibiriakoff, 
Mr. S. J. Serebrenikoff, who had it in charge to oversee the 
taking on board and the landing of the goods that were to be 
carried to and from Siberia in the Fraser and Express. These 
vessels had sailed several days before from Vardoe to Chaborova 
in Tugor Schar, where they had orders to wait for the Vega. 
The Lena, again, the fourth vessel that was placed at my 
disposal, had, in obedience to orders, awaited the Vega in 
the harbour of Tromsoe, from which port these two steamers 
were now to proceed eastwards in company. 

After leaving Tromsoe, the course was shaped at first within 
the archipelago to Maosoe, in whose harbour the Vega was to 
make some hours' stay, for the purpose of posting letters in 
the post-ofiice there, probably the most northerly in the world. 
But during this time so violent a north-west wind began to 
blow, that we were detained there three days. 

Maosoe is a little rocky island situated in 71° N. L., thirty-two 
kilometres south-west from North Cape, in a region abounding 
in fish, about halfway between Bred Sound and Mageroe Sound. 
The eastern coast of the island is indented by a bay, which 

^ Haugan had formerly for a long series of years carried his own ressel 
to Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, and was known as one of the most 
fortunate walrus-hunters of the Norwegian Polar Sea fleet. 

D 



34 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

forms a well protected harbour. Here, only a few kilometres 
south of the northernmost promontory of Europe, are to be 
found, besides a large number of fishermen's huts, a church, 
shop, post-office, hospital, &c. ; and 1 need scarcely add, at 
least for the benefit of those who have travelled in the north 
of Norway, several friendly, hospitable families in whose society 
we talked away many hours of our involuntary stay in the 
neighbourhood. The inhabitants of course live on fish. All 







OLD-WORLD POLAR DRESS. 

Lapp, after original in the Northern Museum, StocWaolin. 



agriculture is impossible here. Potatoes have indeed some- 
times yielded an abundant crop on the neighbouring Ingoe 
(71° 5' N. L.), but their cultivation commonly fails, in conse- 
quence of the shortness of the summer ; on the other hand, 
radishes and a number of other vegetables are grown with 
success in the garden-beds. Of wild berries there is found here 
the red whortleberry, yet in so small quantity that one can 
seldom collect a quart or two : the bilberry is somewhat more 
plentiful ; but the grapes of the north, the cloudberry (imdter), 



i.] 



MAOSOE. 



35 



grow in profuse abundance. From an area of several square 
fathoms one can often gather a couple of quarts. There is no 
wood here — only bushes. 

In the neighbourhood of North Gape, the wood, for the 
present, does not go quite to the coast of the Polar Sea, but at 
sheltered places, situated at a little distance from the beach, 
birches,^ three to four metres high, are already to be met with. 




NEW-WORLD POLAR DRESS. 

Greenlanders, after an old painting in the Ethnographical Museum, Copenhagen. 2 



' The birch which grows here is the sweet-scented birch (Betula 
odorata, Bechst.), not the dwarf birch (Betula nana, L.), which is found 
as far north as Ice Fjord in Spitzbergen (78° 7' N. L.), though there it 
only rises a few inches above ground. 

2 The original of this drawing, for which I am indebted to Councillor 
of Justice H. Rink, of Copenhagen, was painted by a German painter at 
Bergen, in 1654. The painting has the following inscription: — 

SKit ?ebern ©c^tffletn auff bem Tlttt 

S)e grijnietnber fetn t^ein unbt I;er 

Bon 2:i}teren unbt Sjogelen IjaWn See 3re Xva^t 

2)a6 f alte 2a\M bon SSinter nac^t. 

D 2 



56 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CIIAP. 



In former times, however, the outer archipelago itself was 
covered with trees, which is proved by the tree-stems, found 
imbedded in the mosses on the outer islands on the coast of 
Finmark, for instance, upon Renoe. In Siberia the limit of 
trees runs to the beginning of the estuary delta, i.e., to about 
72° N. L.1 As the latitude of North Cape is 71° 10', the wood 
in Siberia at several places, viz., along the great rivers, goes 
considerably farther north than in Europe. This depends partly 
on the large quantity of warm water which these rivers, in 
summer, carry down from the south, partly on the transport of 




LIMIT OP TREES IN NORWAY. 

- At Prffistevandet, on Tromsoen, after a pliotograph. 

seeds with the river water, and on the more favourable soil, 
which consists of a rich mould, yearly renewed by inundations, 
but in Norway again for the most part of rocks of granite and 
gneiss or of barren beds of sand. Besides, the limit of trees 
has a quite dissimilar appearance in Siberia and Scandinavia : 



1 According to Latkin, Die Lena und ihr Flussgehiet {Petermann's 
Miftheilungen, 1879, p. 91). On the map which accompanies Engehardt's 
reproduction of Wrangel's Journey (Berlin, 1839), the limit of trees at the 
Lena is placed at 71° N. L. 



THE LIMIT OF TKEES. 



•67 



in the latter country, the farthest outposts of the forests towards 
the north consist of scraggy birches, which, notwithstanding 
their stunted stems, clothe the mountain sides wit hi a very 
lively and close green ; while in Siberia the outermost trees are 
gnarled and half- withered larches (Larix dahurica, Turcz.), 
which stick up over the tops of the hills like a thin grey 
brush.^ North of this limit there are to be seen on the Yenisej 
luxuriant bushes of willow and alder. That in Siberia too, the 
large wood, some hundreds or thousands of years ago, went 
farther north than now, is shown by colossal tree-stumps found 
still standing in the turidra, nor is it necessary now to go far 




LIMIT OF TREES IN SIBERIA. 

At Boganida, after Middendorf. 



south of the extreme limit, before the river banks are to be 
seen crowned with high, flourishing, luxuriant trees. 

The climate at Maosoe is not distinguished by any severe 
winter cold,^ but the air is moist and raw nearly ah the year 

^ On the Kola Peninsula, and in the neighbourhood of the White Sea, 
as far as to Ural, the limit of trees consists of a species of pine {Picea 
obovata, Ledeb.), but farther east in Kamschatka again of birch. — Th. 
von Middendorff, Reise in dem dussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens, 
vol. iv. p. 582. 

^ An idea of the influence exerted by the immediate neighbourhood of a 
warm ocean-current in making the climate milder may be obtained from 
the following table of the mean temperatures of the different months at 
1. Tromsoe (69° 30' N. L.) ; 2. Fruholm, near North Cape (71° 6' N, L.) ; 



38 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

round. The region would however be very healthy, did not 
scurvy, especially in humid winters, attack the population. 




THE CLOUDBERRY (rTJBTJS CHAMMMORUS, L.). 

Fruit of the natural size. Flowering stalks diminished. 

3. Vardoe (70° 22' N. L.) ; 4. Enontekis and Karesuando, on the river 
Muonio, in the interior of Lapland (68° 26' N. L.). 

Tromsoe. Fruliolm. Vardoe. Enonlelds. 

January - 4-2° -2 7° -6-0° -13-7° 

February - 40 -47 -6-4 -17-1 

March - 3-8 -3-2 -5-1 -11-4 

April - 0-1 -0-9 -1-7 - 6-0 

May + 3-2 +2-7 +1-8 + 0-9 

June + 8-7 +7-5 +5-9 + 8-0 

July +11-5 +9-3 +8-8 +11-6 

August +10-4 +9-9 +9-8 +12-0 

September +7*0 -^6-8 +6-4 4-4-5 

October... -f 20 -|-2-5 +^"3 - 4-0 

November - 1-7 -1-1 -2-1 - 9-9 

Deceinber -3-2 -1-9 -4-0 -11-3 

The figures are taken from H. Molm's Norges Klima (reprinted from C. F. 

Schubeler's Vcvxtlivet i Norge, J^hristiamn, 1879), and A. J. Angstrom, Om 
lufttemperaturen i Enontehis (Of vers, af Vet. Akad. Forhandl., 1860). 



i.] EARLY EXPLORERS. 89 

educated and uneducated, rich and poor, old and young. 
According to a statement made by a lady resident on the spot, 
very severe attacks of scurvy are cured without fail by preserved 
cloudberries and rum. Several spoonfuls are given to the 
patient daily, and a couple of quarts of the medicine is said 
to be sufficient for the complete cure of children severely 
attacked by the disease. I mention this new method of using 
the cloudberry, the old well-known antidote to scurvy, because 
I am convinced that future Polar expeditions, if they will avail 
themselves of the knowledge of this cure, will find that it 
conduces to the health and comfort of all on board, and that 
the medicine is seldom refused, unless it be by too obstinate 
abstainers from spirituous liquors. 

It enters into the plan of this work, as the Vega sails along, 
to give a brief account of the voyages of the men who first 
opened the route along which she advances, and who thus, each 
in his measure, contributed to prepare the way for the voyage 
whereby the passage round Asia and Europe has now at last 
been accomplished. On this account it is incumbent on me 
to begin by giving a narrative of the voyage of discovery during 
which the northernmost point of Europe was first doubled, the 
rather because this narrative has besides great interest for 
us, as containing much remarkable information regarding the 
condition of the former population in the north of Scandinavia. 

This voyage was accomplished about a thousand years ago 
by a Norwegian, Otheee, from Halogaland or Helgoland, that 
part of the JSTorwegian coast which lies between 65° and QQ° 
N. L. Othere, who appears to have travelled far and wide, came 
in one of his excursions to the court of the famous English 
king, Alfred the Great. In presence of this king he gave, in a 
simple, graphic style, a sketch of a voyage which he had under- 
taken from his home in Norway towards the north and east. The 
narrative has been preserved by its having been incorporated, 
along with an account of the travels of another Norseman, 
Wulfstan, to the southern part of the Baltic, in the first chapter 
of Alfred's Anglo-Saxon reproduction of the history of Paulus 
Oeosius : De Miseria Mundi?- This work has since been 

^ Orosius was born in Spain in the fourth century after Christ, and 
died in the beginning of the fifth. He Avas a Christian, and wrote his 
work to show that the world, in opposition to the statements of several 
heathen writers, had been visited during the heathen period by quite as 
great calamities as during the Christian. This is probably the reason 
why his monotonous sketch of all the misfortunes and calamities which be- 
fell the heathen world was long so highly valued, was spread in many copies 
and printed in innumerable editions, the oldest at Vienna in 1471. In 
the Anglo-Saxon translation now in question, Othere's account of his 
journey is inserted in the first chapter, which properly forms a geogra- 



40 THE VOYAGE OP THE VEGA. [chap. 

the subject of translation and exposition by a great number 
of learned men, among whom may be named here the 
Scandinavians, H. G. Poethan of Abo, Rasmus Rask and C. 
Chr. Rafn of Copenhagen. 

Regarding Othere's relations to King Alfred statements differ. 
Some inquirers suppose that he was only on a visit at the court 
of the king, others that he had been sent out by King Alfred 
on voyages of discovery, and finally, others say that he was 
a prisoner of war, who incidentally narrated his experience 
of foreign lands. Othere's account of his travels runs as 
follows : — 

"Othere told his lord. King Alfred, that he dwelt northmost 
of all the Northmen. He said that he dwelt in the land to the 
northward, along the West-Sea; he said, however, that that 
land is very long north from thence, but it is all waste, except 
in a few places where the Fins at times dwell, hunting in the 
winter, and in the summer fishing in that sea. He said that he 
was desirous to try, once on a time, how far that country extended 
due north, or whether any one lived to the north of the waste. 
He then went due north along the country, leaving all the way 
the waste land on the right, and the wide sea on the left. After 
three days he was as far north as the whale-hunters go at the 
farthest. Then he proceeded in his course due north, as far as he 
could sail within another three days ; then the land there in- 
clined due east, or the sea into the land, he knew not which; but 
he knew that he waited there for a west wind or a little north, 
and sailed thence eastward along that land as far as lie could 
sail in four days. Then he had to wait for a due north wind 
because the land inclined there due south, or the sea in on that 
land, he knew not which. He then sailed along the coast due 
south, as far as he could sail in five days. There lay a great river 
up in that land ; they then turned in that river, because they 
durst not sail on up the river on account of hostility ; because 
all that country was inhabited on the other side of the river. 
He had not before met with any land that was inhabited since 
he left his own home ; but all the way he had waste land on his 
right, except some fishermen, fowlers, and hunters, all of whom 
were Fins : and he had constantly a wide sea to the left. The 

phical introduction to the work written by King Alfred. This old 
Anglo-Saxon work is preserved in England in two beautiful manuscripts 
from the ninth and tenth centuries. Orosius' history itself is now for- 
gotten, but King Alfred's introduction, and especially his account of 
Othere's and Wulfstan's travels, have attracted much attention from in- 
quirers, as appears from the list of translations of this part of King 
Alfred's Orosius, given by Joseph Bos worth in his King Alfred's Anglo- 
Saxon version of the Compendious History of the World hy Orosius. 
London, 1859. 



I.] OTHERE'S ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 41 

Beormas had well cultivated their country, but they (Othere 
arid his companions) did not dare to enter it. And the Ter- 
finna ^ land was all waste, except where hunters, fishers, or 
fowlers had taken up their quarters. 

" The Beormas told him many particulars both of their own 
land and of other lands lying around them ; but he knew not 
what was true because he did not see it himself It seemed to 
him that the Fins and the Beormas spoke nearly the same lan- 
guage. He went thither chiefly, in addition to seeing the 
country, on account of the walruses,^ because they have very 
noble bones in their teeth, of which the travellers brought some 
to the king ; and their hides are very good for ship-ropes. 
These whales are much less than other whales, not being longer 
than seven ells. But in his own country is the best whale-hunt- 
ing. There they are eight-and-forty ells long, and the largest 
are fifty ells long. Of these he said he and five others had killed 
sixty in two days.^ He was a very wealthy man in those pos- 
sessions in which their wealth consists, that is, in wild deer. He 
had at the time he came to the king, six hundred unsold tame 
deer. These deer they call rein-deer, of which there were six 



^ By Fins are here • meant Lapps ; by Terfins the inhabitants of the 
Tersk coast of Russian Lapland. 

2 Walruses are still captured yearly on the ice at the mouth of the 
White Sea, not very far from the shore (cf. A. E, Nordenskiold, Redogor- 
elsefor en expedition till mynningen af Jenisej ocli Sibirien ar 1875, p. 23 ; 
Bihang till Vetenskaps-AJcad. Handl. B. iv. No. 1). Now they occur there 
indeed only in small numbers, and, it appears, not in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of land ; but there is scarcely any doubt that informer days they 
were common on the most northerly coasts of Norway. They have evidently 
been driven away thence in the same way as they are now being driven 
away from Spitzbergen. With what rapidity their numbers at the latter 
place are yearly diminished, may be seen from the fact that during my 
many Arctic journeys, beginning in 1858, I never saw walruses on Bear 
Island or the west coast of Spitzbergen, but have conversed with hunters 
who ten years before had seen them in herds of hundreds and thousands. 
I have myself seen such herds in Hinloopen Strait in July 1861, but when 
during my journeys in 1868 and 1872-3 I again visited the same regions, 
I saw there not a single walrus. 

^ As it appears to be impossible for six men to kill sixty great whales 
in two days, this passage has caused the editors of Othere's narrative 
much perplexity, which is not wonderful if great whales, as the Balcena 
mysticetus, are here meant. But if the narrative relates to the smaller 
species of the whale, a similar catch may still, at the present day, be made 
on the coasts of the Polar countries. For various small species go together 
in great shoals ; and, as they occasionally come into water so shallow that 
they are left aground at ebb, they can be killed with ease. Sometimes, 
too, a successful attempt is made to drive them into shallow water. That 
whales visit the coast of Norway in spring in large shoals dangerous to 
the navigator is also stated by Jacob Ziegler, in his work, Quce intus conti- 
nentur Syria, Palestina, Arabia, jEgyptus, Schondia, &c. Argentorati, 
1532, p. 97. 



42 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



decoy rein-deer, which are very valuable among the Fins, because 
they catch the wild rein-deer with them. 

"He was one of the first men in that country, yet he had not 
more than twenty horned cattle, twenty sheep and twenty swine, 
and the little that he ploughed he ploughed with horses. But their 
wealth consists mostly in the rent paid them by the Fins. That 
rent is in skins of animals and birds' feathers, and whalebone, 
and in ship-ropes made of whales' ^ hides, and of seals'. Every 
one pays according to his birth ; the best-born, it is said, pay the 
skins of fifteen martens, and five rein-deers, and one bear's skin, 
ten ambers of feathers, a bear's or otter's skin kyrtle, and two ship- 
ropes, each sixty ells long, made either of whale or of seal hide." 




NORSE SHIP 01' THE TENTH CENTURY. 



Drawn with reference to the vessel found at Sandefjord in 1880, under the superintendence of 
Ingvald Uudset, Assistant at the Christiania University's collection of Northern antiquities. 

The continuation of Othere's narrative consists of a sketch of 
the Scandinavian peninsula, and of a journey which he under- 
took from his home towards the south. King Alfred then gives 
an account of the Dane, Wulfstan's voyage in the Baltic. This 
part of the introduction to Orosius, however, has too remote 
a connection with my subject to be quoted in this historical 
sketch. 

It appears from Othere's simple and very clear narrative that 

^ In this case is meant by " whale " evidently the wah'us, whose skin is 
still used for lines by the Norwegian walrus-hunters, by the Eskimo, and 
the Chukchis. The skin of the true whale might probably be used for 
the same purpose, although, on account of its thickness, perhaps scarcely 
with advantage without the use of special tools for cutting it up. 



'lrigt)ntni«igrti«l«UM8-T)i&&i<m«uux))«ltfnMnw««Giu 



MAP OF NORTH EUROPE 

from 

NicoLAi DonTs Editio 

of 

Ptoleni/ei Coswiographia 

tfLM_1482. 



The colouring of the Land, here added 

for the sake of distinctness, is not in 

the Original. 



Oitul««Awi'ri«6^ 




»0i 



ac, 



3* 



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Jio 



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Connime qu*J»»vieiUlW"fclfu«nrul«y^i«m« tsnin^ 
u; til cM?f .iKinlii Ernoctsiti fitMJlitatwitmwCTlWiW. 



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(mttttnKflnWiiiixVtq.<afi'ntaroMninpiu8M«i»(V/ii(nu« 



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<>txir&iffet«b. 






I.] THE 0LD.5ST MAPS OF THE NORTH. 43 

he undertook a veritable voyage of discovery in order to explore 
the unknown lands and sea lying to the north-east. This 
voyage was also very rich in results, as in the course of it 
the northernmost part of Europe was circumnavigated. Nor 
perhaps is there any doubt that duriog this voyage Othere 
penetrated as far as to the mouth of the Dwina or at least 
of the Mesen in the land of the Beormas.^ We learn from 
the narrative besides, that the northernmost part of Scandinavia 
was already, though sparsely, peopled by Lapps, whose mode of 
life did not differ much from thfit followed by their descendants, 
who live on the coast at the present day. 

The Scandinavian race first migrated to Finmark and settled 
there in the 13th century, and from that period there was 
naturally spread abroad in the northern countries a greater 
knowledge of those regions, which, however, was for a long time 
exceedingly incomplete, and even in certain respects less correct 
than Othere's. The idea of the northernmost parts of Europe, 
which was current during the first half of the 16th century, is 
shown by lithographed copies of two maps of the north, one 
dated 1482, the other 1532,^ which are appended to this work. 
On the latter of these Greenland is still delineated as connected 
with Norway in the neighbourhood of Yardoehus. This map, 
however, is grounded, according to the statement of the author 
in the introduction, among other sources, on the statements of 
two archbishops of the diocese of Nidaro,^ to which Greenland 
and Finmark belonged, and from whose inhabited parts 
expeditions were often undertaken both for trade and plunder, 
by land and sea, as far away as to the land of the Beormas. It 
is difiicult to understand how with such maps of the distribution 
of land in the north the thought of the north-east passage could 
arise, if voices were not even then raised for an altogether 
opposite view, grounded partly on a survival of the old idea, 

^ It ought to be remarked here that the distances which Othere in that 
case traversed every day, give a speed of saiHng approximating to that 
which a common saiHng vessel of the present day attains on an average. 
This circumstance, which on a cursory examination may appear somewhat 
strange, finds its explanation when we consider that Othere sailed only 
with a favourable wind, and, when the wind was unfavourable, lay still. 
It appears that he usually sailed 70' to 80' in twenty-four hours, or perhaps 
rather per diem. 

2 The maps are taken from Ptolemcei Cosmographia latine reddita a Jac. 
Angela, curam ma,pparum gerente Nicolao Donis Germano, Ulmce 1482, and 
from the above-quoted work of Jacobus Ziegler, printed in 1532. That 
portion of the latter which concerns the geography of Scandinavia is 
reprinted in Geografisha Selitionens Tklshrift, B. I. Stockholm, 1878. 

3 These were the Dane, Erik Valkendorff, and the Norwegian, Olof Engel- 
brektsson. The Swedes, Johannes Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, and Peder 
Maonsson, Bishop of Vesteraos, also gave Ziegler important information 
regarding the northern countries. 



44 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

we may say the old popular belief, that Asia, Europe and 
Africa were surrounded by water, partly on stories of Indians 
having been driven by wind to Europe, along the north coast of 
Asia.^ To these was added in 1539 the map of the north by the 
Swedish bishop Olaus Magnus,^ which for the first time gave 
to Scandinavia an approximately correct boundary towards the 
north. Six hundred years,^ in any case, had run their course 

^ Of these much-discussed narratives concerning Indians — probably 
men from North Scandinavia, Eussia, or North America, certainly not 
Japanese, Chinese, or Indians — who were driven by storms to the coasts 
of Germany, the first comes down to us from the time before the birth of 
Christ. For B.C. 62 Quintus Metellus Celer, "when as proconsul he 
governed Gaul, received as a present from the King of the Bseti [Pliny says 
of the Suevi] some Indians, and when he inquired how they came to those 
countries, he was informed that they had been driven by storm from the 
Indian Ocean to the coasts of Germany" (Pomponius Mela, lib. iii. cap. 5, 
after a lost work of Cornelius Nepos. Plinius, Hist. Nat., lib. ii. cap. 67). 

Of a similar occurrence in the middle ages, the learned ^neas Sylvius, 
afterwards Pope under the name of Pius II., gives the following account 
of his cosmography : — " I have myself read in Otto [Bishop Otto, of 
Freising], that in the time of the German Emperor an Indian vessel and 
Indian merchants were driven by storm to the German coast. Certain it 
was that, driven about by contrary winds, they came from the east, which 
had been by no means possible, if, as many suppose, the North Sea were 
unnavigable and frozen " (Pius IT., Cosmographia in Asice et Europce eleganti 
descriptione, etc., Parisiis, 1509, leaf 2). Probably it is the same occurrence 
which is mentioned by the Spanish historian Gomara (Historia general de 
las Indias, Sarag09a, 1552-53), with the addition, that the Indians stranded 
at Liibeck in the time of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190). 
Gomara also states that he met with the exiled Swedish Bishop Olaus 
Magnus, Avho positively assured him that it Avas possible to sail from 
Norway by the north along the coasts to China (French translation of the 
above-quoted work, Paris, 1587, leaf 12). An exceedingly instructive 
treatise on this subject is to be found in Aarboger for nordisJc Oldhyn- 
dighed og Historie, Kjobenhavn, 1880. It is Avritten by F. Schiern, and 
entitled Om en etnologish Gaadefra Oldtiden. 

^ Olaus Magnus, Auslegung und Verlierung der neuen Mappen von den 
alien Gcettenreich, Venedig, 1539. Now perhaps (according to a communi- 
cation from the Librarian-in-chief, G. E. Klemming) there is scarcely any 
copy of this edition of the map still in existence, but it is given unaltered 
in the 1567 Basel edition of Olaus Magnus, " De gentium septentrionalium 
variis conditionibus," &g. The edition of the same work printed at Eome 
in 1555, on the other hand, has a map, which differs a little from the 
original map of 1539. 

^ To interpret Nicolo and Antonio Zeno's travels towards the end of the 
fourteenth century, which have given rise to so much discussion, as Mr. Fr. 
Krarup has done, in such a way as if they, had A^isited the shores of the 
Arctic Ocean and the White Saa, appears to me to be a A^ery unfortunate 
guess, opi^osed to innumerable particulars in the narrative of the Zenos, 
and to the accompanying map, remarkable in more respects than one, 
Avhich Avas first published at Venice in 1558, unfortunately in a somewhat 
" improved " form by one of Zeno's descendants. On the map thei-e is 
the date MCCCLXXX. {Gi. Zeniernes Reise til Norden, et Tolhnings Forsog, 
af Fr. Krarup, Kjobenhavn, 1878 ; R. H. Maior, 2'he Voyages of the Venetian 
Brothers Nicolo and Antonio Zi??20,London,1873, and other Avorks concerning 
these much-bewritten travels). 




MAP OF THE NORTH 

FROM JAKOB ZSEGUER'S S CH N I A , ST R ASB U RG, 1532. 



Septkntkio ♦ 



^■^i'i^^W'fSSIE^J^I^^^^^p^^^^^^^^!^^^^^^^^ 




MAP OF NORTH EUROPE 

OLAI MAGNI HISTORIA DE gentium SEPTENBRIONAUUM VARUS CONDITIONI BUS, BASEL, 1567. 



I.] GREGORY ISTOMA'S VOYAGE. 45 

before Othere found a successor in Sir Hugh Willoughby ; and it 
is usual to pass by the former, and to ascribe to the latter the 
honour of being the first in that long succession of men who 
endeavoured to force a passage by the north-east from the 
Atlantic Ocean to China. 

Here however it ought to be remarked that while such maps 
as those of Ziegler were published in western Europe, other and 
better knowledge of the regions in question prevailed in the north. 
For it may be considered certain that Norwegians, Russians 
and Karelians often travelled in boats on peaceful or warlike 
errands, during the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth 
century, from the west coast of Norway to the White Sea, and 
in the opposite direction, although we find nothing on record 
regarding such journeys except the account that SiGlSMUND voN 
Herbeestein 1 gives, in his famous book on Eussia, of the 
voyage of Gregory Istoma and the envoy David from the 
White Sea to Trondhjem in the year 1496. 

The voyage is inserted under the distinctive title Navigatio 
per Mare Olaciale^'' and the narrative begins with an explanation 
that Herbertstein got it from Istoma himself, who, when a youth, 
had learned Latin in Denmark. As the reasons for choosing the 
unusual, long, " but safe " circuitous route over the North Sea in 
preference to the shorter way that was usually taken, Istoma 
gives the disputes between Sweden and Russia, and the revolt 
of Sweden against Denmark, at the time when the voyage was 
undertaken (1496). After giving an account of his journey 
from Moscow to the mouth of the Dwina, he continues thus :— 

" After having gone on board of four boats, they kept first 
along the right bank of the ocean, where they saw very high 

^ The first edition, entitled Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii, (&c., 
Vienna, 1549, has three plates, and a map of great value for the former 
geography of Russia. It is, however, to judge by the copy in the Royal 
Library at Stockholm, partly drawn by hand, and much inferior to the 
map in the Italian edition of the following year ( Comentari delta Moscovia 
et parimente della Russia, &c., per il Signor Sigismondo libera Barone in 
Herbetstain, Neiperg and Guetnbag, tradotti nicaomente di Latino in lingua 
nostra volgare Italiana, Venetia, 1550, with two plates and a map, with the 
inscription " per Giacomo Gastaldo cosmographo in Venetia, MDL "). Von 
Herbertstein visited Russia as ambassador from the Roman Emperor on 
two occasions, the first time in 1517, the second in 1525, and on the ground 
of these two journeys published a sketch of the country, by which it 
first became known to West- Europeans, and even for Russians themselves 
it forms an important original source of information regarding the state 
of civilisation of the empire of the _ Czar in former times. Von Adelung 
enumerates in Kritisch-literdrische Ubersicht der Reisenden in Russland bis 
1700, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1846, eleven Latin, two Italian, nine 
German, and one Bohemian translation of this work. An English trans- 
lation has since been published by the Hakluyt Society. 

2 Von Herbertstein, first edition, leaf xxviii., in the second of the three 
separately-paged portions of the work. 



4fi THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

mountain peaks ; ^ and after having in tliis way travelled six- 
teen miles, and crossed an arm of the sea, they followed the 
western strand, leaving on their right the open sea, which like 
the neighbonring mountains has its name from the river Petzora. 
They came here to a people called Fin-Lapps, who, though they 
dwell in low wretched huts by the sea, and live almost like wild 
beasts, in any case are said to be much more peaceable than the 
people who are called wild Lajjps. Then, after they had passed 
the land of the Lapps and sailed forward eighty miles, they came 
to the land, Nortpoden, which is part of the dominions of the 
King of Sweden. This region the Rutheni call Kayenska 
Selma, and the people they call Kayeni. After sailing thence 
along a very indented coast which jutted out to the right, they 
came to a peninsula, called the Holy Nose,'-^ consisting of a 
great rock, which like a nose projects into the sea. But in this 
there is a grotto or hollow Avhich for six hours at a time 
swallows up water, and then with great noise and din casts out 
asain in whirls the water which it had swallowed. Some call 
it the navel of the sea, others Charybdis. It is said that this 
whirlpool has such power, that it draws to itself ships and other 
things in its neisflibourhood and swallows them. Istoma said 
that he had never been in such danger as at that place, because 
the whirlpool drew the ship in which he travelled with such 
force, that it was only by extreme exertion at the oars that 
they could escape. After passing this Holy Nose they came to 
a rocky promontory, which they had to sail round. After having 
waited here some days on account of head winds, the skipper 
said : ' This rock, which ye see, is called Semes, and we shall 
not get so easily past it if it be not propitiated by some offer- 
ing.' Istoma said that he reproved the skipper for his foolish 
superstition, on which the reprimanded skipper said nothing 
more. They waited thus the fourth day at the place on ac- 
count of the stormy state of the sea, but after that the storm 
ceased, and the anchor was weighed. When the voyage was 
now continued with a favoiu'able wind, the skipper said : ' You 
laughed at my advice to propitiate the Semes rock, and con- 
sidered it a foolish superstition, but it certainly would have 
been impossible for us to get past it, if I had not secretly by 
night ascended the rock and sacrificed.' To the inquiry what 
he had offered, the skipper replied : ' I scattered oatmeal 
mixed with butter on the projecting rock which we saw.' 
As they sailed further they came to another great promontory, 
called Motka, resembling a peninsula. At the end of this 

^ An erroneous transposition of mountains seen in Norway, the north- 
eastern shore of the Wliite Sea being low hind. 

2 An unfortunate translation, which often occurs in old works, of 
Swjatoinos, "the holy headland." 



I.] GUSTAF VASA AND THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 47 

there was a castle, Barthus, which means 'vakthus, watch-house, 
for there the King of Norway keeps a guard to protect his 
frontiers. The interpreter said that this promontory was so 
long that it could scarcely be sailed round in eight days, on 
which account, in order not to be delayed in this way, they 
carried their boats and baggage with great labour on their 
shoulders over land for the distance of about half a mile. They 
then sailed on along the land of the Dikilopps or wild Lapps 
to a place which is called Dront (Trondhjem) and lies 200 
miles north of ^ the Dwina. And they said that the prince of 
Moscow used to receive tribute as far as to this place." 

The narrative is of interest, because it gives us an idea 
of the way in which men travelled along the north coast of 
Norway, four hundred years ago. It may possibly have had an 
indirect influence on the sending of Sir Hugh Willoughby's 
expedition, as the edition of Herbertstein's work printed 
at Venice in 1550 probably soon became known to the 
Venetian, Cabot, who, at that time, as Grand Pilot of England, 
superintended with great care the fitting out of the first 
English expedition to the north-east. 

There is still greater probability that the map of Scandinavia 
by Olaus Magnus, already mentioned, was known in England 
before 1553. This niap'is an expression of a view which before 
that time had taken root in the north, which, in opposition to 
the maps of the South-European cosmographers, assumed the 
existence of an open sea-communication in the north, between 
the Chinese Sea and the Atlantic, and which even induced 
GuSTAF Vasa to attempt to bring about a north-east expedition. 
This unfortunately did not come to completion, and all that 
we know of it is contained in a letter to the Elector August of 
Saxony, from the Frenchman HuBEET Languet, who visited 
Sweden in 1554. In this letter, dated 1st April 1576, Languet 
says : — " When I was in Sweden twenty-two years ago. King 
Gustaf often talked with me about this sea route. At last he 
urged me to undertake a voyage in this direction, and promised 
ta fit out two vessels with all that was necessary for a protracted 
voyage, and to man them with the most skilful seamen, who 
should do what I ordered. But I replied that I preferred 
journeys in inhabitated regions to the search for new unsettled 
lands." ^ If Gustaf Vasa had found a man fit to carry out 
his great plans, it might readily have happened that Sweden 

1 Instead of " north of," the true ic ading probably is " beyond " the 
Dwina. 

2 Huberti Langueti Epistolce Secretai, Halje, 1699, i, 171. Compare also 
a paper by A. G. Ahlquist, in Ny Illustrerad Tidning for 1875, p. 270. 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

would have contended with England for the honour of opening 
the long series of expeditions to the north-east.^ 

England's navigation is at present greater beyond comparison 
than that of any other country, but it is not of old date. In the 
middle of the sixteenth century it was still very inconsiderable, 
and mainly confined to coast voyages in Europe, and a few 
fishing expeditions to Iceland and Newfoundland.^ The great 
power of Spain and Portugal by sea, and their jealousy of other 
countries rendered it impossible at that period for foreign sea- 
farers to carry on traffic in the East- Asiatic countries, which 
had been sketched by Marco Polo with so attractive accounts of 
unheard-of richness in gold and jewels, in costly stuffs, in spices 
and perfumes. In order that the merchants of northern Europe 
might obtain a share of the profit, it appeared to be necessary 
to discover new routes, inaccessible to the armadas of the 
Pyrenean peninsula. Here lies the explanation of the zeal with 
which the English and the Dutch, time after time, sent out 
vessels, equipped at great expense, in search of a new way to 
India and China, either by the Pole, by the north-west, along 
the north coast of the new world, or by the north-east, along 
the north coast of the old. The voyages first ceased when the 
maritime supremacy of Spain and Portugal was broken. By 
none of them was the intended object gained, but it is remark- 
able that in any case they gave the first start to the development 
of England's ocean navigation. 

Sir Hugh Willoughby's in 1553 was thus the first maritime 
expedition undertaken on a large scale, which was sent from 

^ The first to incite to voyages of discovery in the polar regions was 
an Enghshman, Robert Thorne, who long lived at Seville. Seeing all other 
countries were already discovered by Spaniards and Portuguese, he urged 
Henry VIII. in 1527 to undertake discoveries in the north. After reaching 
the Pole (going sufficiently far north) one could turn to the east, and, first 
passing the land of the Tartars, get to China and so to Malacca, the East 
Indies, and the Cape of Good Hope, and thus circumnavigate the "whole 
world." One could also turn to the west, sail along the back of New- 
foundland, and return by the Straits of Magellan (Richard Hakluyt, The 
Principael Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, &c., 
London, 1589, p. 250). Two years before, Paulas Jovius, on the grouijfi 
of communications from an ambassador from the Russian Czar to Pope 
Clement VII., states that Russia is surrounded on the north by an immense 
ocean, by which it is possible, if one keeps to the right shore, and if no 
land comes between, to sail to China. (Pauli Jovii Opera Omnia, Basel, 
1578, third part, p. 88 ; the description of Russia, inserted there under the 
title " Libellus de legatione Basilii ad Clementem VII.," was printed for 
the first time at Rome in 1525.) 

2 In the year 1540, London, exclusive of the Royal Navy, had no more 
than four vessels, whose draught exceeded 120 tons (Anderson, Origin of 
Commerce, London, 1787, vol. ii. p. 67). Most of the coast towns of 
Scandinavia have thus in our days a greater sea-going fleet than London 
had at that time. 




SIR HVGH WILLOUGHBT. 

(After a portrait in tlie Great Picture HaU, Greenwich.) 



To face page 49. 



'■] 



WILLOUGHBY'S VOYAGE. 



49 



England to far distant seas. The equipment of the vessels 
was carried out with great care under the superintendence of 
the famous navigator, Sebastian Cabot, then an old man, who 
also gave the commander precise instructions how he should 
behave in the different incidents of the voyage. Some of these 
instructions now indeed appear rather childish,^ but others 
might still be used as rules for every well-ordered exploratory 
expedition. . Sir Hugh besides obtained from Edward VI. an 
open letter vvritten in Latin, Greek, and several other languages, 
in which it was stated that discoveries and the making^ of com- 




SEBASTIAN CABOT. 

xVftor a portrait in E. Vale Blake's Arctic Experiences, London, 18T4.2 



mercial treaties were the sole objects ot the expedition ; and the 
people, with whom the expedition might come in contact, were 
requested to treat Sir Hugh Willoughby as they themselves 
would wish to be treated in case they should come to England. 
So sanguine were the promoters of the voyage of its success in 

^ For instance Article 30: "Item, if you shall see them [the foreigners 
met with during the voyage] weare Lyons or Bears skinnes, hauing long 
bowes, and arrowes, be not afraid of that sight : for such be worne often- 
times more to feare strangers, then for any other cause." {Halduyt, 1st 
edition, p. 262.) 

2 The endeavour to procure for this work a copy of an original portrait 
of Cabot, stated to be in existence in England, has unfortunately not been 
crowned with success. 

E 



50 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

reaching the Indian seas by this route, that they caused the 
ships that were placed at Sir Hugh Willoughby's disposal to be 
sheathed with lead in order to protect them from the attacks of 
the teredo and other worms. ^ These vessels were : — 

1. The Bona Esperanza, admiral of the fleet, of 120 tons 
burden, on board of which was Sir Hugh Willoughby himself, 
as captain general of the fleet. The number of persons in this 
ship, including Willoughby, the master of the vessel, William 
Gefferson, and six merchants, was thirty -five. 

2. The Edward Bonaventure, of 160 tons burden, the command 
of which was given to Richard Chancelor, captain and pilot 
major of the fleet. There were on board this vessel fifty men, 
including two merchants. Among the crew whose names are 
given in Hakluyt we find the name of Stephen Burrough, 
afterwards renowned in the history of the north-east passage, 
and that of Arthur Pet. 

3. The Bona Confidevtia, of ninety tons, under command of 
Cornelius Durfoorth, with twenty-eight men, including three 
merchants. 

The expense of fitting out the vessels amounted to a sum 
of £6,000, divided into shares of £25. Sir Hugh Willoughby 
was chosen commander " both by reason of his goodly personage 
(for he was of tall stature) as also for his singular skill in the 
services of warre." ^ In order to ascertain the nature of the 
lands of the east, two " Tartars " who were employed at the 
royal stables were consulted, but without any information 
being obtained from them. The ships left Ratchffe the f^th 
May 1553.^ They were towed down by the boats, "the 
mariners being apparelled in watchet or skie coloured cloth," 
with a favourable wind to Greenwich, where the court then was. 
The King being unwell could not be present, but " the courtiers 
came running out, and the common people flockt together, 
standing very thicke upon the shoare ; the Privie Consel, they 
lookt out at the windowes of the court, and the rest ran up to 
the toppes of the towers ; the shippes hereupon discharge their 
ordinance, and shoot off their pieces after the maner of warre, and 
of the sea, insomuch that the tops of the hilles sounded there- 
with, the valleys and the waters gave an echo, and the mariners 

^ According to Clement Adams' account of the voyage. {Hakluyt, 1st 
edition, p. 271.) 

2 "Cum ob corporis formam (erat enim procerae . staturse) tum ob singu- 
larem in re bellica industriam." Clement Adams' account. — Hakluyt, 
p. 271. 

2 Ten days earlier or later are of very great importance with respect to 
the state of the ice in summer in the Polar seas. I have, therefore, in 
quoting from the travels of my predecessors, reduced the old style to 
the new. 



i.'J WILLOUGHBY'S VOYAGE. 51 

tliey shouted in such sort, that the skie rang again with the noise 
thereof," ^ All was joy and triumph ; it seemed as if men fore- 
saw that the greatest maritime power, the history of the world 
can show, was that day born. 

The voyage itself was, however, very disastrous for Sir Hugh 
and many of his companions. After sailing along the east coast 
of England and Scotland the three vessels crossed in company 
to Norway, the coast of which came in sight the fjth July in 
66° N. L. A landing was effected and thirty small houses were 
found, whose inhabitants had fled, probably from fear of the 
foreigners. The region was called, as was afterwards ascertained, 
"Halgeland," and was just that part of Norway from which 
Othere began his voyage to the White Sea. Hence they sailed 
on along the coast. On the oyth ju!y they anchored in a harbour, 
"Stanfew" (perhaps Steenfjorcl on the west coast of Lofoten), 
where they found a numerous and friendly population, with no 
articles of commerce, however, but dried fish and train oil. In the 
middle of September the Edivard Bonaventure, at Senjen during 
a storm, parted company with the two other vessels. These now 
endeavoured to reach Vardoebus, and therefore sailed backwards 
and forwards in different directions, during which they came 
among others to an uninhabited, ice-encompassed land, along 
whose coast the sea was so shallow that it was impossible for 
a boat to land. It was said to be situated 480' east by north 
from Senjen, in 72° N. L.^ Hence they sailed first to the north, 
then to the south-east. Thus they reached the coast of Russian 
Lapland, where, on the ffth September they found a good 
harbour, in which Sir Hugh determined to pass the winter. 
The harbour was situated at the mouth of the river Arzina 
" near Kegor." Of the further fate of Sir Hugh Willoughby and 

^ " Vibrantur bombardarum fulmina, Tartarise volvuntur nubes, Martem 
sonant crepitacula, I'eboant summa montium juga, reboaut valles, reboant 
und«, claraque Nautarum percellit sydera clamor." Clement Adams' 
account. — Hakluyt, p. 272. 

2 At the time when the whale-fishing at Spitzbergen commenced, 
Thomas Edge, a captain of one of the Muscovy Company's vessels, endea- 
voured to show that the land which Willoughby discovered while sailing 
about after parting company Avith Chancelor was Spitzbergen (Purchas, 
iii. p. 462). The statement, which was evidently called forth by the wish 
to monopolise the Spitzbergen whale-fishing for England, can be shown 
to be incorrect. It has also for a long time back been looked upon as 
groundless. Later inquirers have instead supposed that the land which 
Willoughby saw was Gooseland, on Novaya Zemlya. For reasons which 
want of space prevents me from stating here, this also does not appear to 
me to be possible. On the other hand, I consider it highly probable that 
" Willoughby' s Land" was Kolgujev Island, which is surrounded by 
shallow sand-banks. Its latitude has indeed in that case been stated 2° 
too high, but such errors are not impossible in the determinations of the 
oldest explorers. 

E 2 




o o 
2 ft 



54 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

his sixty-two companions, we know only that during the course 
of the winter they all perished, doubtless of scurvy. The journal 
of the commander ends with the statement that immediately 
after the arrival of the vessels three men were sent south-south- 
west, three west, and three south-east to search if they could 
find people, but that they all returned "without finding of 
people or any similitude of habitation." The following 
year Russian fishermen found at the wintering station the ships 
and dead bodies of those who had thus perished, together with 
the journal from which the extract given above is taken, and a 
will witnessed by Willoughby,^ from which it appeared that he 
himself and most of the company of the two ships were alive 
in January, 1554.^ The two vessels, together with Willoughby's 
corpse, were sent to England in 1555 by the merchant George 
Killingworth.^ 

With regard to the position of Arzina it appears from a state- 
ment in Anthony Jenkinson's first voyage [HaMuyt, p. 335) that 
it took seven days to go from Vardoehus to Swjatoinos, and that 
on the sixth he passed the mouth of the river where Sir Hugh 
Willoughby wintered. At a distance from Vardoehus of about 
six-sevenths of the way between that town and Swjatoinos, 
there debouches into the Arctic Ocean, in 68° 20' N. L. and 38° 
30' E. L. from Greenwich, a river, which in recent maps is called 
the Varzina. It was doubtless at the mouth of this river that 
two vessels of the first North-east Passage Expedition wintered 
with so unfortunate an issue for the officers and men. 

The third vessel, the Edward Bonaventure, commanded by 
Chancelor, had on the contrary a successful voyage, and one 
of great importance for the commerce of the world. As has 
been already stated, Chancelor was separated from his com- 
panions during a storm in August. He now sailed alone to 
Vardoehus. After waiting there seven days for Sir Hugh 
Willoughby, he set out again, resolutely determined " either 
to bring that to passe which was intended, or else to die 
the death;" and though " certaine Scottishmen" earnestly 
attempted to persuade him to return, " he held on his course 
towards that unknown part of the world, and sailed so farre that 
hee came at last to the place where hee found no night at all, 
but a continuall light and brightnesse of the sunne shining 

1 The testator was Gabriel Willougliby, who, as merchant, sailed in the 
commander's vessel. 

2 Halduyt, p. 500 ; PurcTias, iii. p. 249, and in the margin of p. 463. 

<* It is of him that it is narrated in a letter written from Moscow by 
Henrie Lane, that the Czar at an entertainment " called them to his table, 
to receave each one a cuppe from his hand to drinke, and tooke into his 
hand Master George Killingworths beard, which reached over the table, 
and pleasantly delivered it the Metropolitane, who seeming to bless it, sad 
in Russe, 'this is Gods gift.' " — Halduyt., p. 600. 



I.] CHANCELOR'S VISIT TO MOSCOW. 55 

clearly upon the huge and mighty sea." ^ In this way he 
finally reached the mouth of the river Dwina in the White Sea, 
where a small monastery was then standing at the place where 
Archangel is now situated. By friendly treatment he soon won 
the confidence of the inhabitants, who received him with great 
hospitality. They, however, immediately sent off a courier to 
inform Czar Ivan Vasilievitsch of the remarkable occurrence. 
The result was that Chancelor was invited to the court at 
Moscow, where he and his companions passed a part of the 
winter, well entertained by the Czar. The following summer he 
returned with his vessel to England. Thus a commercial con- 
nection was brought about, which soon became of immense 
importance to both nations, and within a few years gave 
rise to a number of voyages, of which I cannot here give any 
account, as they have no connection with the history of the 
North-east Passage.'"^ 

Great geographer or seaman Sir Hugh Willoughby clearly 
was not, but his and his followers' voluntary self-sacrifice and 
undaunted courage have a strong claim on our admiration. Incal- 
culable also was the influence which the voyages of Willoughby 
and Chancelor had upon English commerce, and on the develop- 
ment of the whole of Russia, and of the north of Norway. From 
the monastery at the mouth of the Dwina a flourishing com- 
mercial town has arisen, and a numerous population has settled 
on the coast of the Polar Sea, formerly so desolate. Already 
there is regular steam and telegraphic communication to the 
confines of Russia. The people of Yardoe can thus in a few 
hours get accounts of what has happened not only in Paris or 
London, but also in New York, the Indies, the Cape, Australia, 
Brazil, &c., while a hundred years ago the post came thither only 
once a year. It was then that a journal-loving commandant took 
the step, giving evidence of strong self-command, of not " devour- 
ing " the post at once, but reading the newspapers day by day 
a year after they were published. All this is now different, and 

^ As the Dwina lies to the south of Vardoehus, these remarks probably 
relate to an earlier part of the voyage than that which is referred to in 
the narrative. 

2 Writings on these voyages are exceedingly numerous. An account of 
them was published for the first time in Hakluyt, The principael Naviga- 
tions, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation^ &c., London, 1589 ; 
Ordinances, King Edward's Pass, <&c., p. 259 ; Copy of Sir Hugh Wil- 
loughly' s Journal, with a List of all the Members of the Expedition, p. 265 ; 
Clement Adams' Account of Chaticelor's Voyage, p. 270, &c. The same 
documents were afterwards printed in Purchas' Pilgrimage, iii. p. 211. 
For those who wish to study the literature of this subject further, I may 
refer to Fr. von Adelung, Kritisch-literdrische Ubersicht der Reisenden in 
Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1846, p. 200 ; and I. Hamel, Trades- 
cant der Aeltere 1618 in Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1847. 



CHAP. II.] DEPARTURE FROM MAOSOE. 57 

yet men are not satisfied. The interests of commerce and the 
fisheries require railway communication with the rest of Europe. 
That will certainly come in a few years, nor will it be long- 
before the telegraph has spun its net, and regular steam 
communication has commenced along the coast of the Arctic 
Ocean far beyond the sea which was opened by Chancelor to 
the commerce of the world. 



CHAPTER II. 

Departure from Maosoe — Gooseland — State of the Ice — The Vessels of 
the Expedition assemble at Chabarova — The Samoyed town there — 
The Church — Russians and Samoyeds — Visit to Chabarova in 1875 — 
Purchase of Samoyed Idols — Dress and Dwellings of the Samoyeds 
— Comparison of the Polar Races — ^Sacrificial Places and Samoyed 
Grave on Vaygats Island visited — Former accounts of the Samoyedis 
—Their place in Ethnography. 

The Vega was detained at Maosoe by a steady head wind, 
rain, fog, and a very heavy sea till the evening of the 25th July. 
Though the weather was still very unfavourable, we then 
weighed anchor, impatient to proceed on our voyage, and 
steamed out to sea thi'ough Mageroe Sound. The Lena also 
started at the same time, having received orders to accompany 
the Vega as far as possible, and, in case separation could not be 
avoided, to steer her course to the point, Chabarova in Yugor 
Schar, which I had fixed on as the rendezvous of the four 
vessels of the expedition. The first night, during the fog that 
then prevailed, we lost sight of the Lena, and did not see her 
again until we had reached the meeting place. 

The course of the Vega was shaped for South Goose Cape. 
Although, while at Tromsoe, I had resolved to enter the Kara 
Sea through Yugor Schar, the most southerly of the sounds 
which lead to it — so northerly a course was taken, because 
experience has shown that in the beginning of summer so 
much ice often drives backwards and forwards in the bay 
between the west coast of Vaygats Island and the mainland, 
that navigation in these waters is rendered rather difiicult. 
This is avoided by touching Novaya Zeinlya first at Gooseland, 
and thence following the western shore of this island and Vaygats 
bo Yugor Schar. Now this precaution was unnecessary ; for 
the state of the ice was singularly favourable, and Yugor Schar 
was reached without seeing a trace of it. 

During our passage from Norway to Gooseland we were 
favoured at first with a fresh breeze, which, however, fell as we 



58 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

approached Novaya Zemyla; this notwithstanding, we made 
rapid progress under steam, and without incident, except that 
the excessive rolling of the vessel caused the overturn of some 
boxes containing instruments and uooks, fortunately without 
any serious damage ensuing. 

Land was sighted on the 28th July at 10.30 P.M. It was 
the headland which juts out from the south of Gooseland in 
70° 33' N. L. and 51° 54' E. L. (Greenwich). Gooseland is a low 
stretch of coast, occupied by grassy flats- and innumerable 
small 'lakes, which projects from the mainland of Novaya 
Zemlya between 72° 10' and 71° 30' N. L. The name is a trans- 
lation of the Russian Gusinnaja Semlja, and arises from the 
large number of geese and swans (Cygnus Bewichii, Yaer.) which 
breed in that region. The geese commonly place their iex- 
ceedingly inconsiderable nests on little hillocks near the small 
lakes which are scattered over the whole of Gooseland ; the 
powerful swans, which are very difficult of approach by the 
hunter, on the other hand breed on the open plain. The swans' 
nests are so large that they may be seen at a great distance. 
The building material is moss, which is plucked from the 
ground within a distance of two metres from the nest, which 
by the excavation which is thus produced, is surrounded by a 
sort of moat. The nest itself forms a truncated cone, 0*6 metre 
high and 2 '4 metres in diameter at the bottom. In its upper 
part there is a cavity, 0'2 metre deep and 0*6 metre broad, in 
which the four large grayish-white eggs of the bird are laid. 
The female hatches the eggs, but the male also remains in the 
neighbourhood of the nest. Along with the swans and geese, a 
large number of waders, a couple of species of Lestris, an owl 
and other birds breed on the plains of Gooseland, and a few 
guillemots or gulls upon the summits of the strand cliffs. The 
avifauna along the coast here is besides rather poor. At least 
there are none of the rich fowl-fells, which, with their millions 
of inhabitants and the conflicts and quarrels which rage amongst 
them, commonly give so peculiar a character to the coast 
cliffs of the high north. I first met with true loom and 
kittiwake fells farther north on the southern shore of Besim- 
manaja Bay. 

Although Gooseland, seen from a distance, appears quite level 
and low, it yet rises gradually, with an undulating surface, from 
the coast towards the interior, to a grassy plain, about sixty metres 
above the sea-level, with innumerable small lakes scattered over 
it. The plain sinks towards the sea nearly everywhere with a 
steep escarpment, three to fifteen metres high, below which 
there is formed during the course of the winter an immense 
snowdrift or so-called " snow-foot," which does not melt until 
late in the season. There are no true glaciers lure, nor any 



II.] GOOSELAND. 59 

erratic blocks, to sJioiu that circumstances loere different in former 
tinies. Nor are any snow-covered mountain-tops visible from 
the sea. It is therefore possible at a certain season of the 
year (during the whole of the month of August) to sail from 
Norway to Novaya Zemlya, make sporting excursions there, 
and return without having seen a trace of ice or snow. This 
holds good indeed only of the low-lying part of the south island, 
but in any case it shows how erroneous the prevailing idea of 
the natural state of Novaya Zemlya is. By the end of June 
or beginning of July the greater part of Gooseland is nearly 
free of snow, and soon after the Arctic flov/^er- world develops 
during a few weeks all its splendour of colour. Dry, favourably 
situated spots are now covered by a low, but exceedingly rich 
flower bed, concealed by no high grass or bushes. On moister 
places true grassy turf is to be met with, which, at least when 
seen from a distance, resembles smiling meadows. 

In consequence of the loss of time which had been caused 
by the delay in sailing along the coast of Norway, and our stay 
at Maosoe, we were unable to land on this occasion, but 
immediately continued our course along the west coast of 
Novaya Zemlya towards Yugor Schar, the weather being for 
the most part glorious and calm. The sea was completely 
free of ice, and the land bare, with the exception of some small 
snow-fields concealed in the valleys. Here and there too along 
the steep strand escarpments were to be seen remains of the 
winter's snow-foot, which often, when the lower stratum of 
air was strongly heated by the sun, were magnified by a strong 
mirage, so that, when seen from a distance, they resembled 
immense glaciers terminating perpendicularly towards the sea. 
Coming farther south the clear weather gave us a good view 
of Vaygats Island. It appears, when seen from the sea off the 
west coast, to form a level grassy plain, but when we approached 
Yugor Schar, low ridges were seen to run along the east side 
of the island, which are probably the last ramifications of the 
north spur of Ural, known by the name of Paj-koi. 

When we were off the entrance to Yugor Schar, a steamer 
was sighted. After much guessing, the Fraser was recognised. I 
was at first very uneasy, and feared that an accident had occurred, 
as the course of the vessel was exactly the opposite of that 
which had been fixed beforehand, but found, when Captain 
Nilsson soon after came on board, that he had only come out 
to look for us. The Express and the Fraser had been waiting 
for us at the appointed rendezvous since the 20th. They had 
left Vardoe on the 13th, and during the passage had met with 
as little ice as ourselves. The Vega and Fraser now made 
for the harbour at Chabarova, where they anchored on the 
evening of the 30th July with a depth of fourteen metres and 



60 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

a clay bottom . The Lena was still wanting. We feared that 
the little steamer had had some difficulty in keeping afloat 
in the sea which had been encountered on the other side of 
North Cape. A breaker had even dashed over the side of 
the larger Vega and broken in pieces one of the boxes which 
were fastened to the deck. Our fears were unwarranted. The 
Lena had done honour to her builders at Motala works, and 
behaved well in the heavy sea. The delay had been caused by 
a compass deviation, which, on account of the slight horizontal 
intensity of the magnetism of the earth in these northern 
latitudes, was greater than that obtained durinsf the examina- 
tion made before the departure of the vessel from Gothenburg. 
On the 31st the L&na anchored alongside the other vessels, and 
thus the whole of our little Polar Sea squadron was collected at 
the appointed rendezvous. 

Chabarova is a little village, situated on the mainland, south 
of Yugor Schar, west of the mouth of a small river in which at 
certain seasons fish are exceedingly abundant. During summer 
the place is inhabited by a number of Samoyeds, who pasture 
their herds of reindeer on Vaygats Island and the surrounding 
tundra, and by some Russians and Russianised Fins, who come 
hither from Pustosersk to carry on barter with the Samoyeds, 
and Avith their help to fish and hunt in the neighbouring sea. 
During winter the Samoyeds drive their herds to more 
southern regions, and the merchants carry their wares to 
Pustosersk, Mesen, Archangel, and other places. Thus it has pro- 
bably gone on for centuries back, but it is only in comparatively 
recent times that fixed dwellings have been erected, for they are 
not mentioned in the accounts of the voyages of the Dutch in 
these regions. 

The village, or " Samoyed town " as the walrus-hunters 
grandiosely call it, consists, like other great towns, of two 
portions, the town of the rich — some cabins built of wood, 
with flat turf-covered roofs — and the quarter of the common 
people, a collection of dirty Samoyed tents. There is, besides, a 
little church, where, as at several places along the shore, votive 
crosses have been erected. The church is a wooden building, 
divided by a partition wall into two parts, of Avhich the inner, 
the church proper, is little more than two and a half metres in 
height and about five metres square. On the eastern wall dui'ing 
the time the region is inhabited, there is a large number of 
.sacred pictures placed there for the occasion by the hunters. One 
of them, Avhich represented St. Nicholas, was very valuable, the 
material being embossed silver gilt. Before the lamps hung 
large dinted old copper lamps or rather light-holders, resem- 
bling inverted Byzantine cupolas, suspended by three chains. 
They were set full of numerous small, and some few thick wax 



II.] 



RUSSIAN MEECHAKTS AT CHABAEOVA. 



61 



lights which were lighted on the occasion of our visit. Right 
above our landing-place there were lying a number of sledges 
laden with goods which the Russian merchants had procured 
by barter, and which were to be conveyed to Pustosersk the 
following autumn. The goods consisted mainly of train oil 
and the skins of the mountain fox, common fox, Polar bear, 
glutton, reindeer, and seal. The bears' skins had often a very- 
close, white winter coat, but they were spoiled by the head and 
paws having been cut off. Some of the wolf skins which they 
showed us were very close and fine. The merchants had besides 









CHURCH OF CHABAROVA. 

After a photograph by L, Palander. 

collected a considerable stock of goose quills, feathers, down, 
and ptarmigans' wings. For what purpose these last are used 
I could not learn. I was merely informed that they would be 
sold in Archangel. Perhaps they go thence to the dealers in 
fashions in Western Europe, to be afterwards used as orna- 
ments on our ladies' hats. Ptarmigans' wings were bought as 
long ago as 1611 at Pustosersk by Englishmen.^ 

^ " Letter of Eichard Finch to Sir Thomas Smith, Governor ; and to the 
rest of the Worshiiifid Companie of English Merchants, trading into 
Russia." — Purchas, iii. p. 534. 



62 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

At the same time I saw, among the stocks of the merchants, 
walrus tusks and lines of walrus hide. It is noteworthy that 
these wares are already mentioned in Othere's narrative. 

As I was not myself sufficiently master of the Russian 
language, I requested Mr. Serebrenikoff to make inquiries on the 
spot, regarding the mode of life and domestic economy of the 
Russians in the neighbourhood, and I have received from him 
the following communication on the subject : — 

" The village consists of several cabins and tents. In the 
cabins nine Russian householders live with their servants, who 
are Samoyeds.^ The Russians bring hither neither their 
wives nor children. In the tents the Samoyeds live with their 
families. The Russians are from the village Pustosersk on the 
Petchora river, from which they set out immediately after 
Easter, arriving at Chabarova about the end of May, after 
having traversed a distance of between 600 and 700 versts. 
During their stay at Chabarova they employ themselves in the 
management of reindeer, in catching whales, and in carrying 
on barter with the Samoyeds. They bring with them from 
home all their household articles and commercial wares on 
sledges drawn by reindeer, and as there is a poor ruinous chapel 
there, they bring also pictures of St. Nicholas and other saints. 
The holy Nicholas also figures as a shareholder in a company 
for the capture of whales. Part of their reindeer is left during 
summer on Vaygats, and after their arrival at Chabarova they 
still pass over on the ice to that island. Towards the close of 
August, when the cold commences, the reindeer are driven 
across Yugor Schar from Vaygats to the mainland. About the 
1st October, old style, the Russians return with their reindeer 
to Pustosersk. Vaygats Island is considered by them to afford 
exceedingly good pasturage for reindeer; they therefore allow a 
number of them to winter on the island under the care of some 
Samoyed families, and this is considered the more advan- 
tageous, as the reindeer there are never stolen. Such thefts, on 
the contrary, are often committed by the Samoyeds on the 

1 Mr. Serebrenikoff writes Samodin instead of Samoyed, considering the 
latter name incorrect. For Samoyed means " self-eater," while Samodin 
denotes "an individual," "one who cannot be mistaken for any other," 
and, as the Samoyeds never were cannibals, Mr. Serebrenikoff gives a 
preference to the latter name, which is used by the Eussians at Chabarova, 
and appears to be a literal translation of the name which the Samoyeds 
give themselves. I consider it probable, however, that the old tradition 
of man-eaters (androphagi) living in the north, which originated with 
Herodotus, and was afterwards universally adopted in the geogTaphical 
literature of the middle ages, reappears in a Russianised form in the name 
"Samoyed." (Compare what is quoted further on from Giles Fletcher's 
narrative). 



n.] RUSSIANS AND SAMOYEDS. 63 

mainland. For thii'ty years back the Siberian plague has 
raged severely among the reindeer. A Russian informed me 
that he now owned but two hundred, while some years ago he 
had a thousand ; and this statement was confirmed by the other 
Russians. Men too are attacked by this disease. Two or three 
days before our arrival a Samoyed and his wife had eaten the 
flesh of a diseased animal, in consequence of which the woman 
died the following day, and the man still lay ill, and, as the 
people on the spot said, would not probably survive. Some of 
the Samoyeds are considered rich, for instance the ' eldest ' 
(starschina) of the tribe, who owns a thousand reindeer. The 
Samoyeds also employ themselves, like the Russians, in fishing. 
During winter some betake themselves to Western Siberia, 
where ' corn is cheap,' and some go to Pustosersk. 

" The nine Russians form a company (artell) for whale-fishing. 
There are twenty-two shares, two of which fall to the holy 
Nicholas, and the other twenty are divided among the share- 
holders. The company's profit for the fishing season commonly 
amounts to 1,500 or 2,000 pood train oil of the white whale 
[Beluga), but this season there had been no fishing on account 
of disagreements among the shareholders. For in the Russian 
'artell' the rule is, 'equal liability, equal rights,' and as the 
rich will never comply with the first part of the rule, it was 
their arrogance and greed which caused contention here, as 
everywhere else in the world. 

" Neither the Russians nor the Samoyeds carry on any agri- 
culture. The former buy meal for bread from Irbit. The price 
of meal varies ; this season it costs one rouble ten copecks per 
pood in Pustosersk. Salt is now brought from Norway to 
Mesen, where it costs fifty to sixty copecks per pood. The Samo- 
yeds buy nearly everything from the Russians. There were 
many inquiries for gunpowder, shot, cheap fowling-pieces, rum, 
bread, sugar, and culinary vessels (teacups, &c.). The Samo- 
yed women wear clothes of different colours, chiefly red. In 
exchange for the goods enumerated above there maybe obtained 
fish, train oil, reindeer skins, walrus tusks, and furs, viz., the skins 
of the red, white, and brown fox, wolf. Polar bear, and glutton. 

" The Russians in question are ' Old Believers,' but the 
difference between them and the orthodox consists merely in 
their not smoking tobacco, and in their making the sign of the 
cross with the thumb, the ring finger, and the little finger, 
while the orthodox Russians, on the other hand, make it with 
the thumb, the forefinger, and the middle finger. All Samo- 
yeds are baptised into the orthodox faith, but they worship their 
old idols at the same time. They travel over a thousand versts 
as pilgrims to their sacrificial places. There are several such 
places on Vaygats, where their idols are to be found. The 



64 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Russians call these idols 'bolvanj^.'^ Both the Russians and 
Samoyeds are very tolerant in regard to matters of foith. Tlie 
Russians, for instance, say that the Samoyeds attribute to their 
' bolvans ' the same importance which they themselves attach 
to their sacred pictures, and find in this nothing objectionable. 
The Samoyeds have songs and sagas, relating among other 
things to their migrations. 

" The Samoyed has one or more wives ; even sisters may 
marry the same man. Marriage is entered upon without 
any solemnity. The wives are considered by the men as having 
e([ual rights with themselves, and are treated accordingly, which 
is very remarkable, as the Russians, like other Christian nations, 
consider the woman as in certain respects inferior to the man." 

I visited the place for the first time in the beginning of 
August, 1875. It was a Russian holiday, and, Avhile still a 
long way off at sea, we could see a large number of Russians 
and Samoyeds standing in groups on the beach, Coming 
nearer we found them engaged in playing various different 
games, and though it was the first time in the memory of 
man that European gentlemen had visited their " town," they 
scarcely allowed themselves to be more disturbed in their occu- 
pation than if some stranger Samoyeds had suddenly joined 
their company. Some stood in a circle and by turns threw a 
piece of iron, shaped somewhat like a marlinspike, to the 
ground ; the art consisting in getting the sharp end to strike it 
just in front of rings placed on the ground, in such a way that 
the piece of iron remained standing. Others were engaged in 
playing a game resembling our nine-pins ; others, again, in 
wrestling, &c. The Russians and Samoyeds played with each 
other without distinction. The Samoyeds, small of stature, 
dirty, with matted, unkempt hair, were clad in dirty summer 
clothes of skin, sometimes with a showy-coloured cotton shirt 
drawn over them ; the Russians (probably originally of the 
Finnish race and descendants of the old Beormas) tall, well- 
grown, with long hair shining with oil, ornamentally parted, 
combed, and frizzled, and held together by a head band, or 
covered with a cap resembling that shown in the accompanying 
woodcut, were clad in long variegated blouses, or " mekkor," 
fastened at the waist with a belt. Notwithstanding the feigned 
indifference shown at first, which was evidently considered good 
manners, we were received in a friendly way. We were first 
invited to try our luck and skill in the game in turn with the 
rest, when it soon appeared, to the no small gratification of our 

■^ This name, which properly denotes a coarse likeness, has passed into 
the Swedish, the word hul'van being one of the few which that language 
has borrowed from the Russian. 



IL] 



VISIT TO CHABAROVA IN 1875. 



G5 



\H0T,.A 



hosts, that we were quite incapable of entering into com- 
petition either with Russian or Samoyed. Thereupon one of 
the Russians invited us to enter his cabin, where we were enter- 
tained with tea, Russian wheaten cakes of unfermented dough, 
and brandy. Some small presents were given us with a naive 
notification of what would be welcome in their stead, a notifi- 
cation which I with pleasure complied with as far as my resources 
permitted. A complete unanimity at first prevailed between 
our Russian and Samoyed hosts, but on the following day a 
sharp dispute was like to arise because the former invited one 
of us to drive with a reindeer 
team standing in the neighbour- 
hood of a Russian hut. The 
Samoyeds were much displeased 
on this account, but declared at 
the same time, as well as they 
could by signs, that they them- 
selves were willing to drive us, 
if we so desired, and they 
showed that they were serious 
in their declaration by there 
and then breaking off the 
quarrel in order to take a short 
turn with their reindeer teams 
at a rapid rate among the tents. 
The Samoyed sleigh is in- 
tended both for winter travel- 
ling on the snow, and for 
summer travelling on the 
mosses and water-drenched 
bogs of the tundra. They are, 
therefore, constructed quite dif- 
ferently from the "akja" of 
the Lapp. As the woodcut 
on p. 66 shows, it completely 
resembles a high sledge, the 
carriage consisting of a low and 

short box, which, in convenience, style, and warmth, cannot 
be compared to the well-known equipage of the Lapps. "We 
have here two quite different types of sleighs. The Lapp' 
"akja" appears from time immemorial to have been peculiar 
to the Scandinavian north ; the high sleigh, on the contrary, to 
northern Russia. Thus we find '' akjas " of the kind still in 
common use, delineated in Olaus Magnus (Rome edition, 1555, 
page 598) ; Samoyed sleighs, again, in the first works 
we have on those regions, for instance, in Huyghen VAN 
Linschoten's. ScJdp-vaert van hy Noorden, &c., Amsterdam, 

F 




SAMOYED WOMAN S HOOD. 

One-eighth of natural size. 



66 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



1601, as a side drawing on the principal map. Such high 
sleighs are also used on the Kanin peninsula, on Yalmal, 
and in Western Siberia. The sleighs of the Chukchis, on 
the other hand, as will be seen by a drawing given farther 
on, are lower, and thus more resemble our "kaelkar," or 
work-sledges. 

The neighbourhood of the tents swarmed with small black 
or white long-haired dogs, with pointed nose and pointed ears. 
They are used exclusively for tending the herds of reindeer, and 
appear to be of the same race as the " renvallhund," the reindeer 
dog. At several places on the coast of the White Sea, how- 
ever, dogs are also employed as beasts of draught, but according 





SAMOYED SLEIGH. 

After a drawing by Hj. Tlieel. 



to information which I procured before my dej)arture for 
Spitzbergen in 1872 — it was then under discussion whether 
dogs should be used during the projected ice journey — these 
are of a different race, larger and stronger than the Lapp or 
Samoyed dogs proper. 

Immediately after the Vega came to anchor, T went on land 
on this occasion also ; in the first place with a view to take some 
solar altitudes, in order to ascertain the chronometer's rate of 
going ; for during the voyage of 1875 I had had an opportunity 
of determining the position of this place as accurately as is 



il.] 



TRAFFIC WITH THE SAMOYEDS, 



f)7 



possible with the common reflecting circle and chronometer, 
with the following result : — 

rm m, 1, i /-Il u ( Latitude 69° 38' 50". 

The Church at Chabarova j Longitude 60° 19' 49" E. from Greenwich. 

When the observations were finished I hastened to renew my 
acquaintance with my old friends on the spot. I also endea- 
voured to purchase from the Samoyeds dresses and household 
articles ; but as I had not then with rae goods for barter, and 
ready money appeared to be of small account with them, prices 
were very high ; for instance, for a lady's beautiful " pesk," 




LAPP AKJA. 

After original in the Northern Museum, Stockholm. 



twenty roubles ; for a cap with brass ornaments, ten roubles ; 
for a pair of boots of reindeer skin, two roubles ; for copper 
ornaments for hoods, two roubles each ; and so on. 

As I knew that the .Samoyeds during their wanderings 
always carry idols with them, I asked them whether they could 
not sell me some. All at first answered in the negative. It 
was evident that they were hindered from complying with my 
requests partly by superstition, partly by being a little ashamed, 
before the West European, of the nature of their gods. The 
metallic lustre of some rouble pieces which I had procured in 
Stockholm, however, at last induced an old woman to set aside 

r 2 



68 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



all fears. She went to one of the loaded sledges, which appeared 
to be used as magazines, and searched for a long time till she 
got hold of an old useless skin boot, from which she drew a fine 
skin stocking, out of which at last four idols appeared. After 
further negotiations they were sold to me at a very high price. 
They consisted of a miniature " pesk," with belt, without body ; a 
skin doll thirteen centimetres long, with face of brass ; another 
doll, with a bent piece of copper plate for a nose ; and a stone, 
wrapped round with rags and hung with brass plates, a corner 
of the stone forming the countenance of the~ human figure it 
was intended to resemble. 




Samokdarfim,trahls a rangiferts 
Nee non Idokmrn ah ijjdcm cultoru^ 



u infidentmm' 



S4.M0YED SLEIGH. AND IDOLS. 

After an old Dutch engravinn 



More finely-formed gods, dolls pretty well made, with bows 
forged of iron, I have seen, but have not had the good fortune 
to get possession of. In the case now in question the traffic 
was facilitated by the circumstance that the old witch, Anna 
Petrovna, who sold her gods, was baptised, which was naturally 
taken advantage of by me to represent to her that it was wrong 
for her as a Christian to worship such trash as " bolvans," and 
the necessity of immediately getting rid of them. But my argu- 
ments, at once sophistic and egoistic, met with disapproval, both 
from the Russians and Samoyeds standing round, inasmuch as 



TI.] 



TEA IN A EUSSIAN CABIN. 



69' 



they declared that on the whole there was no great difference 
between the " bolvan " of the Samoyed and the sacred picture 
of the Christian. It would even appear as if the E-ussians 
themselves considered the " bolvans " as representatives of some 
sort of Samoyed saints in the other world. 

When the traffic in gods was finished, though not to my full 
satisfaction, because I thought I had got too little, we were 
invited by one of the Russians, as in 1875, to drink tea in his 
cabin. This consisted of a lobby, and a room about four metres 
square, and scarcely two metres and a half high. One corner 
was occupied by a large chimney, at the side of which was the 
very low door, and right opposite the window opening, under 
which were placed some chests, serving as tea-table for the 
occasion. Along the two remaining sides of the room there 
were fastened to the wall sleeping places of boards covered with 
reindeer skin. The window appeared to have been formerly 






SAMOYED IDOLS. 

One-tMrd of natural size. 



filled with panes of glass, but most of these were now broken 
and replaced by boards. It need scarcely surprise us if glass 
is a scarce article of luxury here. 

We had no sooner entered the cabin than preparations for tea 
commenced. Sugar, biscuits, teacups and saucers, aud a brandy 
flask were produced from a common Russian travelling trunk. 
Fire was lighted, water boiled, and tea made in the common 
way, a thick smoke and strong fumes from the burning fuel 
spreading in the upper part of the low room, which for the 
time was packed full of curious visitors. Excepting these 
trifling inconveniences the entertainment passed off very agree- 
ably, with constant conversation, which was carried on with 
great liveliness, though the hosts and most of the guests could 
only with difficulty make themselves mutually intelligible. 

Hence we betook ourselves to the skin tents of the Samoyeds 



70 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[c:HAP. 



which stood apart from the wooden huts inhabited by the 
Kussians. Here too we met with a friendly reception. Several 
of the inhabitants of the tents were now clad with somewhat 
greater care in a dress of reindeer skin, resembling that of the 
Lapps. The women's holiday dress was particularly showy. 
It consisted of a pretty long garment of reindeer skin, fitting 
closely at the waist, so thin that it hung from the middle in 




SAMOYED HAIR ORNAMENTS. 

Oae-thhd of natural size. 



beautiful regular folds. The petticoat has two or three differ- 
ently coloured fringes of dogskin, between which stripes of 
brightly coloured cloth are sewed on. The foot-covering con- 
sists of boots of reindeer skin beautifully and tastefully em- 
broidered. During summer the men go bare-headed. The 
women then have their black straight hair divided behind into 
two tresses, which are braided with straps, variegated ribbons 



n.] SAMOYED DRESS. '71 

and beads, which are continued beyond the point where the 
bair ends as an artificial prolongation of the braids, so that, in- 
cluding the straps which form this continuation, loaded as they 
are with beads, buttons, and metal ornaments of all kinds, they 
nearly reach the ground. The whole is so skilfully done, that 
at first one is inclined to believe that the women here were 
gifted with a quite incredible growth of hair. A mass of other 




SAMOYED WOMAN S DRESS. 

After a drawing by H,j. Theel. 



bands of beads ornamented with buttons was besides often 
intertwined with the hair in a very tasteful way, or fixed to the 
perforated ears. All this hair ornamentation is naturally very 
heavy, and the head is still more weighed down in winter, as it 
is protected from the cold by a thick and very warm cap of rein- 
deer skin, bordered with dogskin, from the back part of which 
hang down two straps set full of heavy plates of brass or copper. 



72 THE VOYAGE OF THE. VEGA. [chap. 

The young woman also, even here as everywhere else, bedecks 
herself as best she can ; but fair she certainly is not in our eyes. 
She competes with the man in dirt. Like the man she is small 
of stature, has black coarse hair resembling that of a horse's 
mane or tail, face of a yellow colour, often concealed by dirt, 
small, oblique, often running and sore eyes, a fiat nose, broad 
projecting cheekbones, slender legs and small feet and hands. 

The dress of the man, which resembles that of the Lapps, 
consists of a plain, full and long " pesk," confined at the waist 
with a belt richly ornamented with buttons and brass mount- 
ing, from which the knife is suspended. The boots of rein- 
deer skin commonly go above the knees, and the head covering 
consists of a closely fitting cap, also of reindeer skin. 




0.-6rKn, ill 

SAMOYED BELT WITH KNIFE. 

One-sixth of natural size. 



The summer tents, the only ones we saw, are conical, with a 
hole in the roof for carrying off the smoke from the fireplace, 
which is placed in the middle of the floor. The sleeping 
places in many of the tents are concealed by a curtain of varie- 
gated cotton cloth. Such cloth is also used, when there is a 
supply of it, for the inner parts of the dress. Skin, it would 
appear, is not a very comfortable material for dress, for the first 
thing, after fire-water and iron, which the skin-clad savage 
purchases from the European, is cotton, linen, or woollen cloth. 

Of the Polar races, whose acquaintance I have made, the 
reindeer Lapps undoubtedly stand highest; next to them 
come the Eskimo of Danish Greenland. Both these races are 
Christian and able to read, and have learned to use and require a 
large number of the products of agriculture, commerce, and the 



II.] THE POLAE RACES COMPARED. 73 

industrial arts of the present day, as cotton and woollen cloth, 
tools of forged and cast iron, firearms, coffee, sugar, bread, &c. 
They are still nomads and hunters, but cannot be called savages ; 
and the educated European who has lived among them for a 
considerable time commonly acquires a liking for many points of 
their natural disposition and mode of life. Next to them in 
civilisation come the Eskimo of North-western America, on 
whose originally rough life contact with the American whale- 
fishers appears to have had a very beneficial influence. I form 
my judgment from the Eskimo tribe at Port Clarence. The 
members of this tribe were still heathens, but a few of them 
were far travelled, and had brought home from the Sandwich 
Islands not only cocoa-nuts and palm mats, but also a trace of 
the South Sea islander's greater love for ornament and order. 
Next come the Chukchis, who have as yet come in contact 
with men of European race to a limited extent, but whose re- 
sources appear to have seriously diminished in recent times, in 
consequence of which the vigour and vitality of the tribe have 
decreased to a noteworthy extent. Last of all come the Samo- 
yeds, or at least the Samoyeds who inhabit regions bordering 
on countries inhabited by the Caucasian races; on them the 
influence of the higher race, with its regulations and ordinances, 
its merchants, and, above all, its fire-water, has had a distinctly 
deteriorating effect. 

When I once asked an Eskimo in North-western Greenland, 
known for his excessive self-esteem, whether he would not admit 
that the Danish Inspector (Governor) was superior to him, I 
got for answer : " That is not so certain : the Inspector has, it 
is true, more property, and appears to have more power, but 
there are people in Copenhagen whom he must obey. I receive 
orders from none." The same haughty self-esteem one meets 
with in his host in the " gamma" of the reindeer Lapp, and the 
skin tent of the Chukchi. In the Samoyed, on the other 
hand, it appears to have been expelled by a feeling of inferiority 
and timidity, which in that race has deprived the savage of his 
most striking characteristics. 

I knew from old travels and from my own experience on 
Yalmal, that another sort of gods, and one perhaps inferior to 
those which Anna Petrovna pulled out of her old boot, was 
to be found set up at various places on eminences strewn with 
the bones of animals that had been offered in sacrifice. Our 
Russian host informed us the Samoyeds from far distant 
regions are accustomed to make pilgrimages to these places 
in order to offer sacrifices and make vows. They eat the fiesh 
of the animals they sacrifice, the bones are scattered over the 
sacrificial height, and the idols are besmeared with the blood of 
the sacrificed animal. I immediately declared that I wished 



74 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[cHAr. 

to visit such a place. But for a long time none of the Kussians 
who were present was willing to act as guide. At last how- 
ever a young man offered to conduct me to a place on Vaygats 
Island, where I could see what I wished. Accordingly the 
following day, accompanied by Dr. Almquist, Lieutenant 
Hovgaard, Captain Nilsson, and my Russian guide, I made 
an excursion in one of the steam launches to the otlier shore 
of Yugor Straits. 

The sacrificial eminence was situated on the highest point of 
the south-western headland of Vaygats Island, and consisted 
of a natural hillock which rose a couple of metres above the 




SACRIFICIAL EMINENCE ON VAYGATS ISLAND. 

After a drawing by A. Hovgaard. 



surrounding plain. The plain terminated towards the sea 
with a steep escarpment. The land was even, but rose gradually 
to a height of eighteen metres above the sea. The country 
consisted of upright strata of Silurian limestone running 
from east to west, and at certain places containing fossils 
resembling those of Gotland. Here and there were shallow 
depressions in the plain, covered with a very rich and uniformly 
green growth of grass. The high-lying dry parts again made a 
gorgeous show, covered as they were with an exceedingly 
luxuriant carpet of yellow and white saxifrages, blue Eritrichia, 
Polcmonia and Parriicc, and yellow Chrysosplenia, &c. The last 



II.] 



SACRIFICIAL PLACES. 



75 



named, commonly quite modest flowers, are here so luxuriant 
that they form an important part of the flower covering. 
Trees are wholly wanting. Even bushes are scarcely two feet 
high, and that only at sheltered places, in hollows and at the 
:foot of steep slopes looking towards the south. The sacrificial 
mound consisted of a cairn of stones some few metres square, 
situated on a special elevation of the plain. Among the stones 
there were found : — 

1. Reindeer skulls, broken in pieces 
for the purpose of extracting the brains, 
but with the horns still fast to the coronal 
bone ; these were now so arranged among 
the stones that they formed a close thicket 
of reindeer horns, which gave to the 
sacrificial mound its peculiar character. 

2. Reindeer skulls wifch the coronal 
bone bored through, set up on sticks 
which were stuck in the mound. Some- 
times there was carved on these sticks a 
number of faces, the one over the other. 

3. A large number of other bones of rein- 
deer, among them marrow bones, broken 
for the purpose of extracting the marrow. 

4. Bones of the bear, among which 
were observed the paws and the head, 
only half flayed, of a bear which had been 
shot so recently that the flesh had not 
begun to decompose ; alongside of this 
bear's head there were found two lead 
bullets placed on a stone. 

5. A quantity of pieces of iron, for 
instance, broken axes, fragments of iron 
pots, metal parts of a broken harmonicon, 
&c. ; and finally, 

6. The mighty beings to which all this 
splendour was offered. 

They consisted of hundreds of small 
wooden sticks, the upper portions of which 

were carved very clumsily in the form of the human counte- 
nance, most of them from fifteen to twenty, but some of them 
370 centimetres in length. They were all stuck in the ground 
on the south-east part of the eminence. Near the place of 
sacrifice there were to be seen pieces of driftwood and remains 
of the fireplace at which the sacrificial meal was prepared. 
Our guide told us that at these meals the mouths of the idols 
were besmeared with blood and wetted with brandy, and the 
former statement was confirmed by the large spots of blood 




IDOLS FROM THE SACRIFICIAL 
CAIRN. 

One-twelfth of natural size. 



76 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

which were found on most of the large idols below the holes 
intended to represent the mouth. 

After a drawing had been made of the mound, we robbed it 
discreetly, and put some of the idols and the bones of the animals • 
offered in sacrifice into a bag which I ordered to be carried down 
to the boat. My guide now became evidently uncomfortable 
and said that I ought to propitiate the wrath of the "bolvans " 
by myself offering something. I immediately said that I was 
ready to do that, if lie would only show me how to go to 
work. A little at a loss, and doubting whether he ought to 
be more afraid of the wrath of the " bolvans " or of the punish- 
ment which in another world would befal those who had 
sacrificed to false gods, he replied that it was only necessary 
to place some small coins among the stones. With a solemn 
countenance I now laid my gift upon the cairn. It was cer- 
tainly the most precious thing that had ever been offered 
there, consisting as it did of two silver pieces. The Russian 
was now satisfied, but declared that I was too lavish, "a 
couple of copper coins had been quite enough." 

The following day the Samoyeds came to know that I had 
been shown their sacrificial mound. For their own part 
they appeared to attach little importance to this, but they 
declared that the guide would be punished by the offended 
" bolvans." He would perhaps come to repent of his deed 
by the following autumn, when his reindeer should return 
from Vaygats Island, where they for the present were tended 
by Samoyeds ; indeed if punishment did not befall him now, 
it would reach him in the future and visit his children and 
grandchildren — certain it was that the gods would not leave him 
unpunished. In respect to God's wrath their religious ideas 
were thus in full accordance with the teaching of the Old 
Testament. 

This place of sacrifice was besides not particularly old, for 
there had been an older place situated 600 metres nearer the 
shore, beside a grotto which was regarded by the Samoyeds 
with superstitious veneration. A larger number of wooden 
idols had been set up there, but about thirty years ago a 
zealous, newly-appointed, and therefore clean-sweeping] archi- 
mandrite visited the place, set fire to the sacrificial mound, 
and in its place erected a cross, which is still standing. The 
Samoyeds had not sought to retaliate by destroying in their 
turn the symbol of Christian worship. They left revenge to 
the gods themselves, certain that in a short time they would 
destroy all the archimandrite's reindeer, and merely removed 
their own place of sacrifice a little farther into the land. 
There no injudicious religious zeal has since attacked their 
worship of the " bolvans." 



II.] 



SACRIFICIAL CAVITY ON VAYGATS ISLAND. 



77 



The old place of sacrifice was still recognisable by the number 
of fragments of bones and rusted pieces of iron which lay strewed 
about on the ground, over a very extensive area, by the side 
of the Eussian cross. Kemains of the fireplace, on which 
the Schaman gods had been burned, were also visible. These 
had been much larger and finer than the gods on the present 
eminence, which is also confirmed by a comparison of the 




SACRIFICIAL CAVITY ON YAYGATS ISLAND. 

After a drawing by A. Hovgaard. 

drawings here given of the latter with those from the time 
of the Dutch explorers. The race of the Schaman gods has 
evidently deteriorated in the course of the last three hundred 
years. 

After I had completed my examination and collected some 
contributions from the old sacrificial mound I ordered a littld 
boat, which the steam-launch had taken in tow, to be carried 



78 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



over the sandy neck of land which separates the lake shown on 
the map from the sea, and rowed with Captain Nilsson and my 
Russian guide to a Samoyed burying-place farther inland by 
the shore of the lake. 

Only one person was found buried at the place. The grave 
was beautifully situated on the sloping beach of the lake, now 
gay with numberless Polar flowers. It consisted of a box 
carefully constructed of broad stout planks, fixed to the ground 
with earthfast stakes and cross-bars, so that neither beasts of 
prey nor lemmings could get through. The planks appeared 
not to have been hewn out of drift-wood, but were probably 




SAMOYED GHAVE ON VAVGATS ISLAND. 



brought from the south, like the birch bark with which the- 
bottom of the coffin was covered. As a "pesk," now fallen in 
pieces, lying round the skeleton, and various rotten rags showed, 
the dead body had been wrapped in the common Samoyed 
dress. In the grave were found besides the remains of an iron 
pot, an axe, knife, boring tool, bow, wooden arrow, some copper 
ornaments, &c. Rolled-up pieces of bark also lay in the coffin, 
which were doubtless intended to be used in lighting fires 
in another world. Beside the grave lay a sleigh turned upside 
down, evidently placed there in order that the dead man should 
not, away there, want a means of transport, and it is probable 



II.] 



SAMOYED WEAPONS. 



that reindeer for drawing it were slaughtered at the funeral 
banquet. 

As it may be of interest to ascertain to what extent the 
Samoyeds have undergone any considerable changes in their 
mode of life since they first became known to West-Europeans, 
I shall here quote some of the sketches of them Avhich we 
find in the accounts of the voyages of the English and Dutch 
travellers to the North -East. 

That changes have taken place in their weapons, in other 
words, that the Samoyeds have made progress in the art of 
war or the chase, is shown by the old drawings, some of which 
are here reproduced. For in these they are nearly always 




SAMOYED ARCHERS. 

After Linsclioten. 



delineated with bows and arrows. Now the bow appears to 
have almost completely gone out of use, for we saw not 
a single Samoyed archer. They had, on the other hand, the 
wretched old flint firelocks, in which lost pieces of the lock 
were often replaced in a very ingenious way wdth pieces of bone 
and thongs. They also inquired eagerly for percussion guns, 
but breechloaders were still unknown to them. In this 
respect they had not kept abreast of the times so well as the 
Eskimo at Port Claience. 

One of the oldest accounts of the Samoyeds which I know 
is that of Stephen Burrough from 1556. It is o-iven in 



80 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chAp. 

Hakluyt (1st edition, page 318). In the narrative of the 
voyage of the Searchthrift we read :— 

"On Saturday the 1st August 1556 I went ashore,^ and there 
saw three morses that they (Russian hunters) had killed : they 
held one tooth of a morse, which was not great, at a roble, and 
one white beare skin' at three robles and two robles : they 
further told me, that there were people called Samoeds on the 
great Island, and that they would not abide them nor us, who 
have no houses, but only coverings made of Beerskins, set ouer 
them with stakes : they are men expert in shooting, and have 
great plenty of Deere. On Monday . the 3rd we weyed and 
went rooine with another Island, which was five leagues (15') 
East-north-east from us : and there I met againe with Loshak,' 
and went on shore with him, and he brought me to a heap of 
Samoeds idols, which were in number above 300, the worst 
and the most unartificiall worke that ever I saw : the eyes and 
mouthes of sundrie of them were bloodie, they had the shape 
of men, women, and children, very grosly wrought, and that 
which they had made for other parts, was also sprinkled with 
blood. Some of their idols were an olde sticke with two or 
three notches, made with a knife in it. There was one 
of their sleds broken and lay by the heape of idols, and 
there I saw a deers skinne w^hich the foules had spoyled : and 
before certaine of their idols blocks were made as high as their 
mouthes, being all bloody, I thought that to be the table 
whereon they offered their sacrifice : I saw also the instruments 
whereupon they had roasted flesh, and as farre as I could 
perceiue, they make the fire directly under the spit. Their 
boates are made of Deers skins, and when they come on shoare 
they cary their boates with them upon their backs : for their 
cariages they haue no other beastes to serve them but Deere 
only. As for bread and come they have none, except the Russes 
bring it to them : their knowledge is very base for they know 
no letter." 

Giles Fletcher, who in 1588 was Queen Elizabeth's 
ambassador to the Czar, writes in his account of Russia of the 
Sa,moyeds in the following way : — ^ 

"The Samoyt hath his name (as the Busse saith) of eating 
himselfe : as if in times past they lived as the Cannibals, eating 

^iProbably on one of the small islands near Vaygats. 

2 A Russian hunter who had been serviceable to Stephen Burrough in 
'many ways. ' 

3 Treatise of Russia and the adjoining Regions, written by Doctor 
Giles Fletcher, Lord Ambassador from the late Queen, Everglorious 
Elizabeth, to Theodore, then Emperor of Russia. A.D. 1588. Purchas, 
iii. p. 413. 



11,] OLD ACCOUNTS OF THE SAMOYEDS 81 

one another. Which they make more probable, because at 
this time they eate all kind of raw flesh, whatsoeuer it bee, 
euen the very carrion that lyeth in the ditch. But as the 
Samoits themselves will say, they were called Samoie, that is, 
of themselves, as though they were Indigence, or people bred 
upon that very soyle that never changed their seate from one 
place to another, as most Nations have done. They are clad 
in Seale-skinnes, with the hayrie side outwards downe as low 
as the knees, with their Breeches and Netherstocks of the 
same, both men and women. They are all Blacke hayred, 
naturally beardless. And therefore the Men are hardly dis- 
cerned from the Women by their lookes : saue that the Women 
weare a locke of hayre down along both their eares." 

In nearly the same way the Samoyeds are described by 
G. De Veer in his account of Barents' second voyage in 1595. 
Barents got good information from the Samoyeds as to the 
navigable water to the eastward, and always stood on a good 
footing with them, excepting on one occasion when the 
Samoyeds went down to the Dutchmen's boats and took back 
an idol which had been carried off from a large sacrificial 
mound. 

The Samoyeds have since formed the subject of a very 
extensive literature, of which however it is impossible for 
me to give any account here. Among other points their 
relations to other races have been much discussed. On this 
subject I have received from my learned friend, the renowned 
philologist Professor Ahlquist of Helsingfors the following 
communication : — 

The Samoyeds are reckoned, along with the Tungoose, the 
Mongolian, the Turkish and the Finnish -Ugrian races, to belong 
to the so-called Altaic or Ural-Altaic stem. What is mainly 
characteristic of this stem, is that all the languages occurring 
within it belong to the so-called agglutinating type. For in 
these languages the relations of ideas are expressed exclusively 
by terminations or suffixes — inflections, preflxes and pre- 
positions, as expressive of relations, being completely unknown 
to them. Other peculiarities characteristic of the Altaic 
languages are the vocal harmony occurring in many of them, 
the inability to have more than one consonant in the beginning 
of a word, and the expression of the plural by a peculiar affix, 
the case terminations being the same in the plural as in. the 
singular. The affinity between the different branches of the 
Altaic stem is thus founded mainly on analogy or resemblance 
in the construction of the languages, while the different tongues 
in the material of language (both in the words themselves 
and in the expression of relations) show a very limited affinity 

G 



82 THE yOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. 

or none at all. The circumstance that the Samoyeds for the 
present have as their nearest neighbours several Finnish-Ugrian 
races (Lapps, Syrjaeni, Ostjaks, and Voguls), and that these 



S^tmjQl^^MmQ^ 




SAMOYEDS. 



Fi'Diii Scliloissiaj's Neu-ontdecktes Sieweria, worinnen dio Zobeln gefangen worden. 
Zittau 1693.1 



1 A still more extraordinary idea of the Samoyeds, than that which this 
woodcut gives us, we get from the way in Avhich thej^ are mentioned in 
tlie account of the -jouvnev wliicli tlie ItaHan Minorite, Joannes de Piano 
Carpini, undertook in High Asia in the years 1245-47 as ambassador from 
tlie Pope to the mighty conqueror of the Mongolian hordes. In this book 
of travels it is said that Occodai Khan, Chingis Khan's son, after having 
been defeated by the Hungarians and Poles, turned towards the north, 
conquered the Bascarti, i e. the Great Hungarians, then came into collision 
with the Parositi — who had wonderfully small stomachs and mouths, and 
did no'' eat flesh, but only boiled it and nourished themselves b}'' inhaling 
the steam — and finally came to the Samogedi, who lived only by the chase 
and had hous'^s and clothes of skin, and to a land by the ocean, where 
there were monsters with the bodies of men, the feet of oxen and the faces 
of dogs {Relation des Mongols ou Tartares, par le frere Jean du Plan de 
Oarnin, publ. par M. d'Avezac, Paris 18B8, p. 281. Compare Ramusio, 
Delle navlgafioni e viaggi, ii. 1583, leaf 236). At another place in the 
same M^ork.it is said that " the land Comania has on the north immediately 
after Russia, the Mordvini and Bileri, i.e. the Great Bulgarians, the 
Bascarti, i.e. the Great Hungarians, then the Parositi and Samogedi, who 
are said to have the faces of dogs " {Relation des Mongols, p. 351. 
Ranmsio, ii., leaf 233). 



II] ] THE ANIMAL AVORLD OF NOVAYA ZEMLYA. 83 

to a great extent carry on the same modes of life as themselves, 
has. led some authors to assume a close affinity between the 
Samoyeds and the Fins and the Finnish races in general. The 
speech of the two neighbouring tribes however affords no 
ground for such a supposition. Even the language of the 
Ostjak, which is the most closely related to that of the 
Samoyeds, is separated heaven-wide from it and has nothing 
in common with it, except a small number of borrowed words 
(chiefly names of articles from the Polar nomad's life), which the 
Ostjak has taken from the language of his northern neighbour. 
With respect to their language, however, the Samoyeds are 
said to stand at a like distance from the other branches of the 
stem in question. To what extent craniology or the modern 
anthropology can more accurately determine the affinity-relation- 
ship of the Samoyed to other tribes, is still a question of 
the future. 



CHAPTER III. 

From the Animal World of Novaya Zemlya- — The Fulmar Petrel — The 
Rotge or Little Auk — Briinnich's Guillemot — The Black Guillemot — 
The Arctic Puffin— The Gnlls— Richardson's Skua— the Tern— Ducks 
and Geese — The Swan — Waders — The Snow Bunting — Tlie Ptarmigan 
■ — The SnoAvy Owl — The Reindeer — The Polar Bear^ — The Mountain Fox 
— The Lemming — Insects — The Walrus — The Seal — Whales. 

If we do not take into account the few Samoyeds who of 
recent years have settled on Novaya Zemlya or wander about 
during summer on the plains of Yaygats Island, all the lands 
which in the old worM have formed the field of research of 
the Polar explorer — Spitzbergen, Franz-Josef Land, Novaya 
Zemlya, Vaygats Island, the Taimur Peninsula, the New 
Siberian Islands, and perhaps Wrangel's Land also — are unin- 
habited. The pictures of life and variety, which the native, 
with his peculiar manners and customs, commonly offers to the 
foreigner in distant foreign lands, are not to be met with here. 
But, instead, the animal life, which he finds there in summer — 
for durino' winter almost all beings who live above the surface of 
the sea disappear from the highest North— is more vigorous and 
perhaps even more abundant, or, to speak more correctly, less 
concealed by the luxuriance of vegetation than in the south. 

It is not, however, the larger mammalia — whales, walruses, 
seals, bears and reindeer — that attract attention in the first place, 
but the innumerable flocks of birds that swarm around the Polar 
traveller during the long summer day of the North. 

G 2 



CHAP. III.] THE LITTLE AUK. 85 

Long before one enters the region of the Polar Sea proper, the 
vessel is surrounded by flocks of large grey birds which fly, or 
rather hover without moving their wings, close to the surface of 
the sea, rising and sinking with the swelling of the billows, 
eagerly searching for some eatable object on the surface of the 
water, or swim in the wake of the vessel in order to snap up 
any scraps that may be thrown overboard. It is the Arctic 
stormfogel^ (Fulmar, "Mallemuck," "Hafhaest," Procellaria 
glacialis, L.). The fulmar is bold and voracious, and smells 
vilianously, on which account it is only eaten in cases of 
necessity, altliough its flesh, if the bird has not recently devoured 
too much rotten blubber, is by no means without relish, at least 
for those who have become accustomed to the flavour of train 
oil, when not too strong. It is more conjmon on Bear Island 
and Spitzbergen than on Novaya Zemlya, and scarcely appears 
to breed in any considerable numbers on the last-named place, 
I know three places north of Scandinavia where the fulmar 
breeds in large numbers : the first on Bear Island, on the 
slopes of some not very steep clitfs near the so-called south 
harbour of the island,^ the second on the southern shore of 
Brandy wine Bay on North-East Land, the third on ledges of the 
perpendicular rock-walls in the interior of Ice Fjord. At the 
two latter places the nests are inaccessible. On Bear Island, on 
the other hand, one can without very great difficulty plunder the 
whole colony of the dirty grey, short eggs, which are equally 
rounded at both ends. The eggs taste exceedingly well. The 
nest is very inconsiderable, smelling badly like the bird itself. 

When the navigator has gone a little further north and come 
to an ice-bestrewed sea, the swell ceases at once, the wind is 
hushed and the sea becomes bright as a mirror, rising and 
sinking with a slow gentle heaving. Flocks of little auks 
{Mergnlus alle, L.) Briinnich's guillemots {Uria Brunnichii, . 
Sabine), and black guillemots ( Uria grylle, L. ) now swarm in the 
air and swim among the ice floes. The alke-kung (little auk), also 
called the "sea king," or rotge, occurs only sparingly off the 
southern part of Novaya Zemlya, and does not, so far as I know, 
breed there. The situation of the land is too southerly, the 
accumulations of stones along the sides of the mountains too 

1 The name stormfogel is also used for tlie Stormy Petrel {Thalassidroma 
pelagka, Vig.). This bird does not occur in the portions of the Polar Sea 
with which we are now concerned. 

^ At Bear Island, Tobiesen, on the 28th May, 1866, saw fulmars' eggs 
laid immediately on the ice which still covered the rock. At one place a 
bird sitting on its eggs was even frozen fast by one leg to the ice on the 
1^ August, 1596. Barents found on the north part of Novaya Zemlya 
that some fulmars had chosen as a hatching-place a piece of ice covered 
with a little earth. In botli these cases the under part of the Qgg during 
hatching could never be warmed above the freezing-point. 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



inconsiderable, for the thriving of this little bird. But on 
Spitzbergen it occurs in incredible numbers, and breeds in the 
talus, 100 to 200 metres high, which frost and weathering have 
formed at several places on the steep slopes of the coast mountain 
sides ; for instance, at Horn Sound, at Magdalena Bay, on the 
Nor ways (near 80° N.L.), and other places. These stone heaps 
form the palace of the rotge, richer in rooms and halls than any 
other in the wide round world. If one climbs up among the 
stones, he sees at intervals actual clouds of fowd suddenly emerge 
from the ground either to swarm round in the air or else to tiy 
out to sea, and at the same time those .that remain make their 
presence underground known by an unceasing cackling and din, 
resembling, according to Friedrich Martens, the noise of a 
crowd of quarrelling women. Should this sound be stilled for 
a few moments, one need only attempt in some opening among 

the stones to imitate their cry 
(according to Martens : rott-tet- 
tet-tet-tet) to get immediately 
eager and sustained replies from 
all sides. The fowl circling in 
the air soon settle again on the 
stones of the mountain slopes, 
where, squabbling and fighting, 
they pack themselves so close 
together that from fifteen to thirty 
of them may be killed by a single 
shot. A portion of the flock now 
flies up again, others seek their 
safety like rats in concealment 
among the blocks of stone. But 
they soon creep out again, in 
to fly out to sea and search for 
of Crustacea and vermes. The 
single blueish- white egg is laid on 
the bare ground without a nest, so deep down among the stones 
that it is only with difficulty that it can be got at. In the 
talus of the mountains north of Horn Sound I found on the 
18th June, 1858, two eggs of this bird lying directly on the 
layer of ice between the stones. Probably the hatching season 
had not then begun. Where the main body of these flocks of 
birds passes the winter, is unknown,^ but they return to the 
north early — sometimes too early. Thus in 1873 at the end 
of April I saw a large number of rotges frozen to death on 




THE LITTLE AUK, Oht ROTGE. 

Swedish, Alkekung. {Mergulus Alle, L.) 

order, as if by agreement, 
their food, which consists 
rotse dives with ease. Its 



' It deserves to be investigated whether some little auks do not, like the 
Spitzbergen ptarmigan, pass the winter in their stone mounds, flying out 
to sea only at pretty long intervals in order to collect their food. 



III.] 



THE LOOM. 



87 



the ice in the north part of Hinloopen Strait. When cooked 
the' rotge tastes exceedingly well, and in consequence of the 
great development of the breast muscles it affords more food 
than could be expected from its small size. 

Along with the rotge we find among the ice far out at sea 
flocks of aJhor (looms, or Brunnich's guillemots), and the nearer 
we cc)me to the coast, the more do these increase in number, 
especially if the cliffs along the shore offer to this species of sea- 
fowl — the most common of the Polar lands — convenient hatchiDg 
places. For this purpose are chosen the faces of cliffs which rise 
peri^endicularly out of the sea, but yet by ledges and uneven 




THE LOOM OR BBUNNICH S GUILLEMOT. 

Swedish, Alka. {TJria Briinnichii, Sabine.) 



places afford room for the hatching fowl. On the guillemot-, 
fells proper, eggs lie beside eggs in close rows from the crown of 
the cliff to near the sea level, and the whole fell is also closely 
covered with seafowl, which besides in flocks of thousands and 
thousands fly to and from the cliffs, filling the air with their 
exceedingly unpleasant scream. The eggs are laid, without trace 
of a nest, on the rock, which is either bare or only covered witli 
old birds' dung, so closely packed together, that in 1 858 from a 
ledge of small extent, which I reached by means of a rope from 
the top of the fell, I collected more than half a barrel -full 
of eggs. Each bird has but one very large egg, grey pricked- 



88 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

with brown, of very variable size and form. After it has been 
3at upon for some time, it is covered with a thick layer of birds' 
dung, and in this way the hunters are accustomed to distinguish 
uneatable eggs from fresh. 

If a shot be fired at a " loomery," the fowl fly away in 
thousands from their hatching places, without the number of 
those that are not frightened away being apparently diminished. 
The clumsy and short-winged birds, when they cast themselves 
out of their places, fall down at first a good- way before they 
get " sufficient air " under their wings to be able to fly. Before 
this takes place, many plump down into the water, sometimes 
even into the boat which may be rowed along the foot of 
the fell 

An unceasing, unpleasant cackling noise indicates that a 
continual gossip goes on in the " loomery " ; and that the 
unanimity there is not great, is proved by the passionate 
screams which are heard now and then. A bird squeezes 
forward in order to get a place on a ledge of rock already 
packed full, a couple of others quarrel about the ownership of 
an egg which has been laid on a corner of the rock only a few 
inches broad, and which now during the dispute is precipitated 
into the abyss. ' By the beginning of July most of the eggs 
are uneatable. I have seen the young of the size of a rotge 
accompany their mothers in the middle of August. The 
loom breeds on Walden Island and the north coast of 
North-East land, accordingly far north of 80°. I found the 
largest " loomeries " on Spitzbergen south of Lomme Bay in 
Hinloopen Strait, at the southern entrance to Van Meyen Bay 
in Bell Sound, and at Alkornet in Ice Fjord. In respect to the 
large number of fowl, however, only the first of these can 
compete with the south shore of Besimannaja Bay (72°54'N.L.) 
and with the part of Novaya Zemlya that lies immediately to 
the south of this bay. The eggs of the loom are palatable, 
and the flesh is excellent, though not quite free from the 
flavour of train oil. In any case it tastes much better than 
that of the eider. 

Along with the rotge and the loom two nearly allied 
species of birds, hinnefogeln, the Arctic puffin {Mormon 
ardicus, L.) and tejsten or tohis-grisslan, the black guillemot 
{Uria grylle, L.) are to be seen among the drift-ice. I do not 
know any puffin-fells on Spitzbergen. The bird appears to 
breed there only in small numbers, though it is still found on 
the most northerly part of the island. On Novaya Zemlya, 
too, it occurs rather sparingly. The black guillemot, on the other 
hand, is found everywhere, though never collected in large 
flocks, along the shores of Spitzbergen, and Novaya Zemlya, 
even as far north as Parry Island in 80° 40'N.L., where in 1861 



III.] THE ARCTIC PUFFIN AND THE BLACK GUILLEMOT. 89 

I saw several of their nests. These are placed near the summits 
of steep cliffs along the shore. The black guillemots often swim 
out together in pairs in the fjords. Their flesh has about the 
same taste as Brlinnich's guillemot, but is tougher and of 
inferior quality ; the eggs, on the other hand, are excellent. 

The sea fowl mentioned above are never met with inland. 
They never settle on a grassy sward or on a level sandy beach. 
The steep fowl-fell sides, the sea, ground-ice, pieces of drift-ice 
and small stones rising above the water, form their habitat. 
They swim with great skill both on, and under the water. The 
black guillemots and rotges fly swiftly and well ; Brlinnich's 
guillemots, on the contrary, heavily and ill. The latter therefore 
do not perhaps remove in winter farther from their hatching 








THE ARCTIC PUFFIN. 

Swedish, Lunnefogel. (Mormon Arcticus. L.) 



THE BLACK GUILLEMOT. 

Swedish, Tejst. {Urio. Grylle, L.) 



places than to the nearest open water, and it is probable that 
colonies of Briinnich's guillemots are not located at places 
where the sea freezes completely even far out from the coast. 
On this perhaps depends the scarcity of Briinnich's guillemot 
in the Kara Sea. 

While sailing in the Arctic Ocean, vessels are nearly always 
attended by two kinds of gulls, the greedy stormaosen or 
horginaesteren, glaucous gull {Larus glaiccus, Brlinn.), and. the 
gracefully formed, swiftly flying kryckian or tretaoiga maosen, 
kittiwake {Larus tridactylus, L.), and if the hunter lies to at an 
ice-floe to flense upon it a seal which has been shot, it is not 
long till a large number of snow-white birds with dark blue 
bills and black lecjs settle down in the neisfhbourhood in order 



CHAP. III.] THE KITTIWAKE. 91 

that they may get a portion of the spoil. They belong to the 
third kind of gull common in the north, ismaosen, the ivory 
gull {Larus ehurneus, Gmel.). 

In disposition and mode of life these gulls differ much from 
each other. The glaucous gull is sufficiently strong to be able 
to defend its eggs and young against the attack of the mountain 
fox. It therefore breeds commonly on the summits of easily 
accessible small cliffs, hillocks or heaps of stones, preferably in 
the neighbourhood of " loomeries " or on fowl-islands, where 
the young of the neighbouring birds offer an opportunity for 
prey and hunting during the season when its own young are 
being fed. Sometimes, as for instance at Brandywine Bay on 
Spitzbergen, the glaucous gull breeds in great flocks on the 
ledges of steep fell-sides, right in the midst of Brllnnich's 
guillemots. On Bear Island I have seen it hatch on the very 
beach, at a place, for instance, under the arch of a waterfall 
leaping down from a precipitous cliff. The nests, which, .to 
judge from the quantity of birds' dung in their neighbourhood, 
are used for a long succession of years, are placed in a depression 
in the rock or the ground, and lined with a little straw or a 
feather or two. The number of the eggs is three or four. 
After boiling they show a jelly like, half transparent white, and 
a reddish yellow, and are exceedingly delicious. The young 
birds have white flesh, resembling chicken. The burgomaster 
is common everywhere along the coasts of Novaya Zemlya and 
Spitzbergen. Yet I have not seen the nest of this gull on the 
north coast of North East Land or on the Seven Islands. 

Still more common than the glaucous gull in the lands of the 
High North is hrychian, the kittiwake. It is met with far out 
at sea, where it accompanies the vessel whole days, circling 
round the tops of the masts, and sometimes — according to the 
statements of the walrus-hunters, when a storm is approaching — 
■pecking at the points of the pendant. When the vessel is in 
harbour, the kittiwakes commonly gather round it to pick out 
anything eatable in the refuse that may be thrown away. They 
breed in great flocks on the steep escarpments in some separate 
part of the fowl-feJls, in connection with which, it is evident 
that the kittiwakes always endeavour to choose the best places 
of the fell — those that are most inaccessible to the fox and are 
best protected against bad weather. Among the birds of the 
north the kittiwake is the best builder ; for its nest is walled 
with straw and mud, and is very firm. It juts out like a great 
swallow's nest from the little ledge to which it is fixed. 
Projectmg ends of straw are mostly bent in, so that 
the nest, with its regularly rounded form, has a very tidy 
appearance. The interior is further lined with a soft, carefuUv 
arranged layer of moss, grass and seaweed, on which the bird 



92 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHAr. 



lays three to four well-flavoured eggs. The soft warm 
uaderlayer is, however, not without its inconvenience ; for 
Dr. Stuxberg during the voyage of 1875 found in such a nest 
no fewer than twelve kinds of insects, among them Pulex 
vagahundus, Bohem. in nine specimens, a beetle, a fly, &c. 

The ivory gull, called by Fr. Martens " Eathsherr," the 
Councillor, is found, as its Swedish name indicates, principally 
out at sea in the pack, or in fjords filled with drift-ice. It is a 
true ice -bird, and, it may almost be said, scarcely a water-bird at 
all, for it is seldom seen swimming on the surface, and it can 
dive as little as its relatives, the glaucous gull andthekittiwake. 




A. THE KITTIWAKE, 

Swedish, Kryckia. (Larus tridacti,his, L.) 



B. THE IVOBY GULL. 

Swedish, Ismaos. (Lams elttrneus. I,.) 



In greed it competes with the fulmar. When any large animal 
has been killed among the drift-ice, the ivory gull seldom fails to 
put in an appearance in order to quench ats hunger with flesh 
and blubber. It consumes at the same time the excrements of 
the seal and the walrus, on which account from three to five 
ivory gulls may often be seen sitting for a long time round a 
seal-hole, quiet and motionless, waiting patiently the arrival of 
the seal (Malmgren). 

The proper breeding places of this bird scarcely appear to be 
yet known. So common as it is both on the coasts of Spitz- 
bergen from the Seven Islands to South Cape and on the north 



III.] 



THE IVORY GULL. 



93 



coast of Novaya Zemlya and America, its nest has only been 
found twice, once in 1853 by McClintock at Cape Krabbe 
in North America in 77° 25' N.L., the second time by Dr. 
Malmgren at Murchison Bay, in 82° 2' N.L. The two nests 
that Malmgren found consisted of depressions, twenty-three 
to twenty-six centimetres in diameter, in a heap of loose gravel, 
on a ledge of a steeply-sloping limestone-rock wall. In each 
nest was found only one egg, which, on the 30th July, already 
contained a down-covered young bird. For all the ivory gulls 
which have their home on Spitzbergen there were doubtless 
required several hundred such breeding-places as that at 
Murchison Bay. When to this is added the fact that we never 




RARE NORTHERN GULLS. 

A. Sabine's Gull. (Larus Sabinii, Sabine.) b. Ross's Gull (Larus Bossii, RIoliards.) 



in autumn saw on Spitzbergen any full-grown young of this 
kind of gull, I assume that its proper breeding-place must be 
found farther north, on the shores of some still unknown Polar 
land, perhaps continually surrounded by ice. It deserves to 
be mentioned with reference to this, that Murchison Bay was 
covered with ice when Malmgren found the nests referred to 
above. 

Besides these varieties of the gull, two other species have 
been found, though very rarely, in the Polar regions, viz., 
Larus Sahinii, Sabine, and Larus Bossii, Bichards. Although 
I have myself only seen the latter, and that but once (on the 
Chukchi Peninsula), I here give drawings of them both for 



94 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



the use of future Polar explorers. They care perhaps, if they 
be properly observed, not so rare as is commonly supposed. 

Often during summer in the Arctic regions one hears a 
penetrating shriek in the air. When one inquires into the 
reason of this, it is found to proceed from a kittiwake, more 
rarely from a glaucous gull, eagerly pursued by a bird as large 
as a crow, dark-brown, with white breast and long tail-feathers. 




A. THE COMMON SKUA. B. BUFFON'S SKUA. 

Swedish, Labben, (Lestrk parasitica, .L.) Swedish, Fjellabben. (Lcstris Buffonii, Boie. ) 

C. THE POMARINE SKUA. 

Swedish, Bredstjertade Labbon. {Lestris pomarina, Tern.) 



It is lahhen, the common skua (Lcstris parasitica, L.), known by 
the Norwegian Avalrus -hunters under the name of tjufjo, de- 
rived from the bird's cry, " I-o i-o," and its shameless thief-nature. 
When the ''tjnfjo" sees, a kittiwake or a glaucous gull fly off 
with a shrimp, a fish, or a piece of blubber, it instantly attacks 
it. It flies with great swiftness backwards and forwards 
around its victim, striking it with its bill, until the attacked 



Til.] THE "TJUFJO." 05 

bird either drops what it has caught, which is then immediately 
snapper! up by the skua, or else settles down upon the surface 
of the water, where it is protected against attack. The skua 
besides eats eggs of other birds, especially of eiders and geese. 
If the eggs are left but for a few moments unprotected in the 
nest, it is immediately to the front and shows itself so voracious 
that it is not afraid to attack nests from which the hatching 
birds have been frightened away by men engaged in gathering 
eggs only a few yards off. "With incredible dexterity it pecks 
a hole in the eggs and sucks their contents. If speed is 
necessary, this takes place so quickly and out of so many eggs 
in succession that it sometimes has to stand without moving, 
unable to fly further until it has thrown up what it had 
swallowed. The skua in this way commonly takes part in 
the plundering of every eider island. The walrus-hunters are 
very much embittered against the bird on account of this in- 
trusion on their industry, and kill it whenever they can. The 
whalers called it "struntjaeger "—refuse-hunter — because they 
believed that it hunted gulls in order to make them void their 
excrements which " struntjaegeren " was said to devour as a 
luxury. 

The skua breeds upon low, unsheltered, often water-drenched 
headlands and islands, where it lays one or two eggs on the 
bare ground, often without trace of a nest. The eggs are so 
like the ground that it is only with difficulty that they can be 
found. The male remains in the neighbourhood of the ncftt 
during the hatching season. If a man, or an animal which 
the bird considers dangerous, approaches the eggs, the pair 
endeavour to draw attention from them by removing from the 
nest, creeping on the ground and flapping their wings in the 
most pitiful way. The bird thus acts with great skill a 
veritable comedy, but takes good care that it is not caught. 

As is well known, we know only two varieties of colour in 
this bird, a self-coloured brown, and a brown on the upper part 
of the body with white below. Of these I have only once in 
the Arctic regions seen the self-coloured variety, viz. at Bell 
Sound in 1858. All the hundreds of skuas which I have 
seen, besides, have had the throat and lower part of the body 
coloured white. 

This bird is very common on Spitzbergen and Novaya 
Zemlya. Yet perhaps it scarcely breeds on the north part of 
North-East Land. Along with the bird now described there 
occur, though sparingly, two others : — hredstjertade labhen, the 
Pomarine skua (Lesiris pomarina, Tern.) and fjellahhen, Buff on s 
skua (Lestris Buffonii, Boie). The latter is distinguished by its 
more slender build and two very long tail-feathers, and it is 
much more common farther to the east than on Spitzbergen. 



96 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

I have not had an opportunity of making any observations on 
the mode of life of these birds. 

As the skua pursues the kittiwake and the glaucous gull, it 
is in its turn pursued with extraordinary fierceness by the little 
swiftly-flying and daring bird taernan, the Arctic tern (Sterna 
macroura, Naum.). This beautiful bird is common everywhere 
on the coasts of Spitzbergen, but rather rare on Novaya Zemlya. 
It breeds in considerable flocks on low grass-free headlands or 
islands, covered with sand or pebbles. The. eggs, which are 
laid on the bare ground without any trace of a nest, are so like 
lichen-covered pebbles in colour, that it is only with difficulty 
one can get eyes upon them ; and this is the case in a yet 
higher degree with the newly-hatched young, which notwith- 
standing their thin dress of down have to lie without anything 
below them among the bare stones. From the shortness of 
their legs and the length of their wings it is only with difficulty 
that the tern can go on the ground. It is therefore impossible 
for it to protect its nest in the same way as the " tjufjo." In- 
stead, this least of all the swimming birds of the Polar lands 
does not hesitate to attack any one, whoever he may be, that 
dares to approach its nest. The bird circles round the disturber 
of the peace with evident exasperation, and now and then goes 
whizzing past his head at svich a furious rate that he must every 
moment fear that he will be wounded with its sharp beak. 

Along with the swimmers enumerated above, we find every- 
v/here along these shores two species of eider, the vanliqa eidern, 
common eider {Somateria mollissima, L.) said praJctejdern, king- 
duck (Somateria spectabilis, L.). The former prefers to breed on 
low islands, which, at the season for laying eggs, are already 
surrounded by open water and are thus rendered inaccessible to 
the mountain foxes that wander about on the mainland. The 
richest eider islands I have seen in Spitzbergen are the Down 
Islands at Horn Sound. When I visited the place in 1858 the 
whole islands were so thickly covered with nests that it was 
necessary to proceed with great caution in order not to trample 
on eggs. Their number in every nest was five to six, sometimes 
larger, the latter case, according to the walrus-hunters, being 
accounted for by the female when she sits stealing eggs from 
her neighbours. I have myself seen an egg of Anser hernicla in 
an eider's nest. The eggs are hatched by the female, but 
the beautifully coloured male watches in her neighbourhood and 
gives; the signal of flight when danger approaches. The nest 
consists of a rich, soft, down bed. The best down is got by 
robbing the down-covered nest, an inferior kind by plucking 
the dead birds. When the female is driven from the nest she 
seeks in haste to scrape down over the eggs in order that they 
may not be visible. She besides squirts over them a very 



Til. 



EIDEES. 



97 



stinking fluid, whose disgusting smell adheres to the collected 
eggs and down. The stinking substance is however so volatile 
or so easily decomposed in the air that the smell co-mpletely 
disappears in a few hours. The eider, which some years ago was 
very numerous on Spitzbergen,^ has of late years considerably 
diminished in numbers, and. perhaps will soon be completely 
driven thence, if some restraint be not laid on the heedless way 
in which not only the Eider Islands are now plundered, but the 
birds too killed, often for the mere pleasure of slaughter. On 
Novaya Zemlya, too, the eider is common. It breeds, for in- 
stance, in not inconsiderable numbers on the high islands in 
Karmakul Bay. The eider's flesh has, it is true, but a slight 
flavour of train oil, but it is coarse and far inferior to that of 
Briinnich's guillemot. In particular, the flesh of the female 
while hatchinsf is almost uneatable. 







HEADS OF THE 
EIDER ; B. KING DUCK ; C. BARNACLE GOOSE ; 



D. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 



The king-duck occurs more sparingly than the common 
eider. On Spitzbergen it is called the " Greenland eider," on 
Greenland the " Spitzbergen eider," which appears to indicate 
that in neither place is it quite at home. On Novaya Zemlya, on 
the other hand, it occurs in larger numbers. Only once have I 
seen the nest of this bird, namely, in 1873 on Axel's Islands in 
Bell Sound, where it bred in limited numbers together with the 
common eider. In the years 1858 and 1864, when I visited the 
same place, it did not breed there. Possibly its proper breeding 

^ The quantity of eider-down which was brought from the Polar lands 
to Tromsoe amounted in 1868 to 540, in 1869 to 96.% in 1870 to 882, in 1871 
to 630. and in 1872 to 306 kilograms. Thfe total annual yield may be 
estimated at probably three times as much. 

H 



98 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

place is on Novaya Zemlya at the inland lakes a little way from 
the coast. The walrus-hunters say that its eggs taste better 
than those of the common eider. They are somewhat smaller 
and have a darker green colour. 

On the Down Islands hatches, along with the eiders, the long- 
necked prutgaessen, barnacle goose {Anser hernicla, L.) marked 
on the upper part of the body in black and brownish grey. 
It lays four to five white eggs in an artless nest without 
down, scattered here and there among the eiders' nests rich in 
down. This variety of goose is found in greatest numbers 
during the moulting season at small inland lakes along the 
coast, for instance on the line of coast between Bell Sound and 
Ice Fjord and on Gooseland. The walrus-hunters sometimes 
call them " rapphoens " — partridges — a misleading name, which 
in 1873 induced me to land on the open coast south of Ice 
Fjord, where " rapphoens " were to be found in great numbers. 
On landing I found only moulting barnacle geese. The bar- 
nacle goose finds its food more on land and inland. lakes than 
in the sea. Its flesh accordingly is free from the flavour of 
■train oil and tastes well, except that of the female during the 
hatching season, when it is poor and tough. The eggs are 
better than the eider's. 

On Spitzbergen besides the barnacle goose we meet with the 
closely allied species Anser leucopsis, Bechst. It is rather rare, 
but more common on Novaya Zemlya. Further there occurs at 
the last-named place a third species of goose, vildgaosen, the 
" grey goose " or " great goose " of the walrus-hunters ; the bean 
goose (Anser segetum, Gmel,), which is replaced on Spitzbergen 
by a nearly allied type, the pink -footed goose {Anser hrachy- 
rhynclius, Baillon). These geese are much larger than both the 
eider and the barnacle goose, and appear to be sufficiently 
strong to defend themselves against the fox. They commonly 
breed high up on some mossy or grassy oasis, among the stone 
mounds of the coast mountains, or on the summit of a steep 
strand escarpment in the interior of the fjords. During the 
moulting season the grey geese collect in flocks at the small 
fresh-water lakes along the coast. The flesh of this species of 
goose is finer than that of the common tame goose and has no 
trace of any train flavour. 

Among the swimming birds that give the summer life on 
Novaya Zemlya its peculiar character, we may further reckon 
the. scaup-duck and the swan. Alfogel or allan, the long-tailed 
duck (F'ldigula glacialis, L.) is rare on Spitzbergen, but occurs 
very generally on Novaya Zemlya, and especially in the Kara 
Sea, on whose coasts it is seen in summer collected in large 
flocks. Mindre saongsvanen, Bewick's swan {Cygnus Beioickii, 
Yarr.), is the most nobly formed and coloured bird of the 



Ill] BEWICK'S SWAN. 99 

north. I have already described its nest, which is found in 
considerable numbers in Gooseland. The bird is blinding 
white, resembling the common swan, but somewhat smaller 
and with a considerable difference in the formation of the wind- 
pipe and the " keel " of the breastbone. The flesh is said to 
be coarse and of inferior flavour. 




BEWICK S SWAK. 

Swedish, Mindre Saongsvanen. (Cygnus Bewickii, Yarr.) 




BREASTBONE 

of Cygnus Bewickii, showing the peculiar position of the windpipe. After Yarrell. 



The land-birds in the Arctic regions are less numerous both 
in species and individuals than the sea-birds. Some of them, 
however, also occur in large numbers. Almost wherever one 
lands, some small greyish brown waders are seen running quickly 
to and fro, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in flocks of ten to 
twenty. It is the most common wader of the north, the 
fjaerplyt of the walrus-hunters, the purple sandpiper {Tringa 
maritima, Briinn.). It lives on flies, gnats, and other land 

H 2 



100 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. 

insects. Its well-filled crop shows how well the bird knows 
how to collect its food even in regions where the entomologist 
can only with difficulty get hold of a few of the animal forms 
belonging to his field of research. The purple sandpiper lays 
its four or five eggs in a pretty little nest of dry straw on open 
grassy or mossy plains a little distance from the sea. It also 
endeavours to protect its nest by acting a comedy like that of 
the tjufjo. Its flesh is delicious. 

In the company of the purple sandpiper there is often seen a 
somewhat larger wader, or, more correctly, a bird intermediate 
between the waders and the swimming birds. This is the 
beautiful hrednaebbacU sivisnaeppan, the grey (or red) phalarope 
{Phalaropus fulicarius, Bonap.). It is not rare on Spitzbergen, 
and it is exceedingly common, perhaps even the commonest 
bird on the north coast of Asia. I imagine therefore that it is 
not absent from Novaya Zemlya, though there has hitherto been 
observed there only the nearly allied smalnaehbade simsnaeppan, 
the red - necked phalarope {Phalaropus hyperhorms, Lath.). 
This bird might be taken as the symbol of married love, so 
faithful are the male and female, being continually to be seen 
in each other's company. While they search for their food in 
pools of water along the coast, they nearly always bear each 
other company, swimming in zigzag, so that every now and 
then they brush past each other. If one of them is shot, the 
other flies away only for a short time until it observes that its 
mate is left behind. It then flies back, swims with evident 
distress round its dead friend, and pushes it with its bill to get 
it to rise. It does not, however, spend any special care on its 
nest or the rearing of its young, at least to judge by the nest 
which Duner found at Bell Sound in 1864. The position of 
the nest was indicated by three eggs laid without anything 
below them on the bare ground, consisting of stone splinters. 
The flesh of the phalarope is a great delicacy, like that of other 
waders which occur in the regions in question, but which I 
cannot now stay to describe. 

During excursions in the interior of the land along the coast, 
one often hears, near heaps of stones or shattered cliffs, a 
merry twitter. It comes from an old acquaintance from the 
home land, the snoesparfven or snoelaerkan, the snow-bunting 
(Emheriza nivalis, L.). The name is well chosen, for in winter 
this pretty bird lives as far south as the snow goes on the 
Scandinavian peninsula, and in summer betakes itself to the 
snow limit in Lapland, the tundra of North Siberia, or the 
coasts of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. It there builds 
its carefully-constructed nest of grass, feathers and down, deep 
in . a stone heap, preferably surrounded by a grassy plain. 
The air resounds with the twitter of the little gay warbler. 



Ill] 



THE SNOW-BUNTING AND THE PTARMIGAN. 



101 



which makes the deeper impression because it is the only 
true bird's song one hears in the highest north.^ 

On Spitzbergen there is sometimes to be met with in the 
interior of the country, on the mountain slopes, a game bird, 
.S2Msbergsrijjan, the rock ptarmigan {Lagopus hyperloreus, 
Sund.). A nearly allied type occurs on the Taimur peninsula, 
and along the whole north coast of Asia. It perhaps therefore 
can scarcely be doubted that it is also to be found on Novaya 
Zemlya, though wx have not hitherto seen it there. On Spitz- 







\^'t-i';:.^ jt>.^- 



PTAKMIGAN FELL 

Mussel Bay on Spitzbergen, after a photograph taken by A. Envall on the 21st June, 1672. 

bergen this bird had only been found before 1872 in single 
specimens, but in that year, to our glad surprise, we discovered 
an actual ptarmigan-fell in the neighbourhood of our winter 
colony, immediately south of the 80th degree of latitude. It 
formed the haunt of probably a thousand birds ; at least a 
couple of hundred were shot there in the course of the winter. 
They probably breed there under stones in summer, and creep- 
ing in among the stones pass the winter there, at certain seasons 
doubtless in a kind of torpid state. 

1 There are, however, various other song-hirds found already on south 
Novaya Zemlya, for instance, lappsparfven, the Lapland bunting {Emherixa 
lapponica, L.), and herglaerhan^ the shore-lark {Alauda alpestris, L.). They 
hatch on the ground under bushes, tufts of grass, or stones, in very care- 
fully constructed nests lined with cotton-grass and feathers, and are not 
uncommon. 



102 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



The mode of life of the Spitzbergen ptarmigan is thus widely 
different from that of the Scandinavian ptarmigan, and its flesh 
also tastes differently. For the bird is exceedingly fat, and its 
flesh, as regards flavour, is intermediate between black-cock and 
fat goose. -^ We may infer from this that it is a great delicacy. 

When I was returning, in the autumn of 1872, from an ex- 
cursion of some length along the shore of Wijde Bay, I fell in 
with one of our sportsmen, who had in his hand a white bird 
marked with black spots, which he showed me as a " very large 
ptarmigan." In doing so, however, he fell into a great ornitho- 
logical mistake, for it was not a ptarmigan at all, but another 




THE SNOWY OWL.- 

■ Swedish, Fjelluggla. (Strix nydea, L.) 

kind of bird, similarly marked in winter, namely, fjellugglan, 
the Avalrus-hunter's isoern, the snowy owl {Strix nyctca, L.). It 
evidently breeds and winters at the ptarmigan-fell, which it 
appears to consider as its own poultry-yard. In fact, the 
marking of this bird of prey is so similar to that of its victim 
that the latter can scarcely peihaps know how to take care of 
itself On Spitzbergen the snowy owl is very rare ; but on 
Novaya Zemlya and the North coast of Asia — where the lem- 
ming, which is wanting on Spitzbergen, occurs in great crowds 

1 Hedenstrom also states {Otrywhi o Sibiri, St. Petersburg, 1830, p. 130,) 
that the ptarmigan winters on the New Siberian Islands, and that there it 
is fatter and more savoury than on the mainland. 



III.] THE REINDEER. 103 

— it is common. It commonly sits immoveable on an open 
mountain slope, visible at a great distance, from the strong 
contrast of its white colour with the greyish-green ground. 
Even in the brightest sunshine, unlike other owls, it sees 
exceedingly well. It is very shy, and therefore difficult to 
shoot. The snow ptarmigan and the snowy owl are the only 
birds of which we know with certainty that they winter on 
Spitzbergen, and both are, according to Hedenstrom, native 
to the New Siberian Islands {Otrywki o Sihiri, p. 112). 

In the cultivated regions of Europe the larger mammalia 
are so rare that most men in their whole lifetime have never 
seen a wild mammal so large as a dog. This is not the case 
in the high north. The number of the larger mammalia here 
is indeed no longer so large as in the seventeenth century, when 
their capture yielded an abundant living to from twenty to 
thirty thousand men ; but sport on Novaya Zemlya and Spitz- 
bergen still supports several hundred hunters, and during 
summer scarcely a day passes without a visitor of the coasts of 
these islands seeing a seal or a walrus, a reindeer or a Polar 
bear. In order to present a true picture of the Polar traveller's 
surroundings and mode of life, it is absolutely necessary to 
give a sketch of the occurrence and mode of life of the wild 
mammalia in the Polar lands. 

I shall make a beginning with the reindeer. This grami- 
nivorous animal goes nearly as far to the north as the land in 
the old world. It was not, indeed, observed by Payer on Franz 
Josef Land, but traces of the reindeer were seen by us on 
the clay beds at Cape Chelyuskin ; remnants of reindeer were 
observed at Barents' winter harbour on the northernmost part 
of Novaya Zemlya; some very fat animals were killed by 
Norwegian walrus-hunters on King Karl's Land east of Spitz- 
bergen, and for some years back the reindeer was very numerous 
even on the north coast of North East Land, and on Castren's, 
Parry's, Marten's, and Phipps' Islands, lying still farther to the 
north. Although these regions are situated between 80° and 
81° N.L., the reindeer evidently thrives there very well, and 
finds, even in winter, abundant food on the mountain slopes 
swept clear of snow by storms, as is shown by the good condi- 
tion in which several of the animals shot by us were, and by 
the numeroTis reindeer traces and tracks which we saw on 
Castren's Island in the month of May, 1873. Nor does a 
winter temperature of —40° to —50° appear to agree particu- 
larly ill with these relatives of the deer of the south. Even 
the Norwegian reindeer can bear the climate of Spitzbergen, 
for some of the selected draught reindeer which I took with 
me to Spitzbergen in 1872, and which made their escape soon 
after they were landed, were shot by hunters in 1875. They 



104 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

then pastured in company with wild reindeer, and were, like 
them, very fat. It is remarkable that the reindeer, notwith- 
standing the devastating pursuit to which it is exposed on 
Spitzbergen/ is found there in much larger numbers than on 
North Novaya Zemlya or the Taimur peninsula, where it is 
almost protected from the attacks of the hunter. Even on the 
low-lying part of South Novaya Zemlya, the reindeer, notwith- 
standing the abundance of the summer pasture, is so rare that, 
when one lands there, any reindeer-hunting is scarcely to be 
counted on. It first occurs in any considerable numbers farther 
to the north, on both sides of Matotschkin Schar. 

It deserves to be mentioned here that three hundred years 
ago, when the north part of Novaya Zemlya was for the 
first time visited by man, reindeer do not appear to have 
been more numerous there than now. In the narrative of 
Barents' third voyage (De Veer, Diarium Nauticum, 21st 
June, 1596) it is expressly stated : " Here it may be remarked 
that, although the land, which we consider as Greenland (the 
present Spitzbergen), lies under and over the 80th degree of 
latitude, there grow there abundant leaves and grass, and 
there are found there such animals as eat grass, as reindeer, 
while on the other hand, on Novaya Zemlya, under the 76th 
degree of latitude, there are neither leaves nor grass nor any 
grass-eating animal." After this, however, traces of reins were 
found even at the winter station ; a bear, for instance, was 
killed that had devoured a reindeer. 

On Spitzbergen the reindeer have been considerably diminished 
in numbers by the hunting, first of the Dutch and English, 
and afterwards of the Russians and Norwegians. In the north- 
western part of the island, where the Dutch had their train-boiling 
establishments, the animal has been completely extirpated.^ 

1 The hunters from Tromsoe brought home, in 1868, 996 ; in 1869, 975 ; 
and in 1870, 837 reindeer. When to this we add the great number of 
reindeer which are shot in spring and are not included in these calculations, 
and when we consider that the number of walrus-himting vessels which 
;ire fitted out from Tromsoe is less than that of those which go out from 
Hammerfest, and that the shooting of reindeer on Spitzbergen is also 
carried on by hunters from other towns, and by tourists, we must suppose 
that at least 3,000 reindeer have been killed during each of those years. 
Formerly reindeer stalking was yet more productive, but since 1870 the 
number killed has considerably diminished. 

2 When Spitzbergen was first mapped, a great number of places were 
named after reindeer, which shows that the reindeer was found there in 
large numbers, and now just at these places it is completely absent. On 
the other hand, the Dutch and English explorers during the sixteenth 
century saw no reindeer on Novaya Zemlya. During the Swedish expedi- 
tion of 1875 no reindeer were seen on the west coast of this island south of 
Karraakul Bay, while a number were shot at Besimannaja Bay and Matot- 
schkin Schar. When some of the companions of the well-known walrus- 



ni.] MARKED REINDEER. ^ 105 

It still, however, occurs on Ice Fjord in very great numbers, 
which, were the animal protected, would speedily increase. 

That so devastating a pursuit as that which goes on year after 
year on Spitzbergen can be carried on without the animal being 
extirpated, has even given rise to the hypothesis of an immi- 
gration from JSTovaya Zemlya. But since I have become better 
acquainted with the occurrence of the reindeer in the latter 
place, this mode of explanation does not appear to me to be 
correct. If, therefore, as several circumstances in fact indicate, 
an immigration of reindeer to Spitzbergen does take place, it 
must be from some still unknown Polar land situated to the 
north-north-east. In the opinion of some of the walrus-hunters 
there are indications that this unknown land is inhabited, for 
it has repeatedly been stated that marked reindeer have been 
taken on Spitzbergen. The first stajiement on this point is to 
be found in Witsen {Noort ooster gedeelte van Asia en Europa, 
1705, ii. page 904), where the reins are said to have been 
marked on the horns and the ears ; and I have myself heard 
hunters, who in Norway were well acquainted with the care of 
reindeer, state positively that the ears of some of the Spitz- 
bergen reindeer they shot were clipped — probably, however, 
the whole has originated from the ears having been marked 
by frost. That no immigration to Spitzbergen of reindeer from 
Novaya Zemlya takes place, i^ shown besides by the fact that 
the Spitzbergen reindeer appears to belong to a race differing 
from the JSIovaya Zemlya reindeer, and distinguished by its 
smaller size, shorter head and legs, and plumper and fatter ho&y. 

The life of the wild reindeer is best known from Spitzbergen. 
During summer it betakes itself to the grassy plains in the 
ice-free valleys of the island, in late autumn it withdraws — 
according to the walrus-hunters' statements — to the sea-coast, in 
order to eat the seaweed that is thrown up on the beach, and in 
winter it goes back to the lichen-clad mountain heights in the 
interior of the country, where it appears to thrive exceedingly 
well, though the cold during winter must be excessively severe ; 
for when the reindeer in spring return to the coast they are 
still very fat, but some weeks afterwards, when the snow has 

hunting captain, Sievert Tobiesen, were compelled in 1872-73 to winter at 
North Goose Cape, they shot during winter and spring only eleven 
reindeer. Some Russians, Avho by an accident were obliged to pass six 
years in succession somewhere on the coast of Stans Foreland (Maloy 
Broun), and who, during this long time, were dependent for their food on 
what they could procure by hunting without the use of fire-arms (they had 
when they landed powder and ball for onlj- twelve shots), when the three 
survivors were found and taken home in 1749, had killed two hundred and 
fifty reindeer (P. L. le Roy, Relation des Aventures arrivees a quatre 
rnatelots Rusi^esjeUes par une tempete pres de V Isle deserte d' Ost-Spitzhergen, 
sur laquelle Us ont passe six ans et trois mois, 1760^. 



106 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



frozen on the surface, and a crust of ice makes it difficult for 
them to get at the mountain sides, they become so poor as 
scarcely to be eatable. In summer, however, they speedily eat 
themselves back into condition, and in autumn they are so fat 
that they would certainly take prizes at an exhibition of fat 
cattle. In the museum at Tromsoe there is preserved the 
backbone of a reindeer, shot on King Karl's Land, which had a 
layer of fat seven to eight centimetres in thickness on the loin. 

The reindeer, in regions where it has been much hunted, is 
very shy. but, if the ground is not quite even, one can creep 




REINDEER PASTURE. 

Green Harbour on Spitzbergen, after a photograph taken by A. Envall on the 20th July, lb73. 



within range, if the precavition be taken not to approach it 
from the windward. During the rutting season, which falls in 
late autumn, it sometimes happens that the reindeer attacks 
the hunter. 

The Spitzbergen reindeer is not tormented, like the rein- 
deer in Lapland and on Novaya Zemlya, by "gorm " (inch-long 
larvse of a fly, which are developed under the animal's skin). 
Its flesh is also better than that of the Lapp reindeer. None 
of the contagious diseases which of late years have raged so 



111.] THE POLAR BEAR. 107 

dreadfully among the reindeer in northern Europe has ever, at 
least during the last fifty years, been common on Spitzbergen. 

The Polar bear occurs principally on coasts and islands which 
are surrounded by drift-ice, often even upon ice-fields far out at 
sea, for his best hunting is among the ice-floes. Now he is 
rather rare on the south-western coasts of Spitzbergen and 
Novaya Zemlya which are almost free of ice during summer, 
bat more common on the northern parts of these islands, which 
are almost always surrounded by ice. Thus for instance during 
my many landings at Horn Sound, Bell Sound, Ice Fjord, Fore- 
land Sound, and King's Bay, on the west coast of Spitzbergen, 
I have never seen a single bear. On the other hand, bears 
were seen at nearly every resting-place during the boat voyage 
I made in 1861 with Torell in Hinloopen Strait and along the 
shores of the most northerly islands on Spitzbergen, also during 
the sledge journey which Palander and I made in the spring of 
1873 round North East Land. The Polar bear is besides found 
everywhere along the north coast of Asia and America, 
apparently in greater numbers the farther north we go. 
Sometimes too, first on ice and then swimming, he has 
reached the north coast of Norway, for instance, in March 
1853, when, according to a statement in Tromsoe Stiftstidende 
(No. 4 for 1869), a Polar bear was killed in Kjoellefjord in East 
Finmark. 

The bear is not difficult to kill. When he observes a man he 
commonly approaches in hope of prey, with supple movements, 
and in a hundred ziejzag bends, in order to conceal the direction 
he intends to take, and thus keep his prey from being frightened. 
During his approach he often climbs up on blocks of ice, or 
raises himself on his hind legs, in order to get a more extensive 
view, or else stands snuffing up the air w^ith evident care in all 
directions, in order, by the aid of smell, which he seems to rely 
upon more than sight, to ascertain the true kind and nature of 
the surrounding objects. If he thinks he has to do wdth a seal, 
he creeps or trails himself forward along the ice, and is said 
then to conceal with the fore-paws the only part of his body that 
contrasts with the white colour of the snow — his large black 
nose. If one keeps quite still, the bear comes in this way so 
near that one can shoot him at the distance of two gun-lengths, 
or, what the hunters consider safer, kill him with the lance. 
If an unarmed man falls in with a Polar bear, some rapid 
movements and loud cries are generally sufficient to put him to 
flight, but if the man himself flies, he is certain to have the 
bear after him at full speed. If the bear is wounded, he 
always takes to flight. He often lays snow upon the wound 
with his fore-paws ; sometimes in his death struggles he scrapes 
with his fore-feet a hole in the snow, in which he buries his head. 



108 



THE Voyage of the vega 



[chap. 



When a vessel lies at anclior, the bear sometimes swims out 
to it, and if one encamps in distant regions one often finds on 
getting up in the morning a Polar bear in the neighbourhood, 
who during the night has gone and nosed round the tent, 
without daring to attack it. I remember only one case of a 
bear venturing to look into an inhabited tent ; it was during 
Kane's journey. He was frightened on that occasion by the 
lighting of some lucifers. I have myself with my comrades 
encamped without a watch in regions where -we were certain 
that our encampment would be visited, while we lay in deep 




POLAR BEARS. 

Drawn by G. Miitzel of Berlin. 



sleep, by some bear, that seldom, when the cook rose to make 
coffee, failed to come within range of shot. 

The bear on the other hand has a special fancy for taking an 
inventory of depots of provisions, of abandoned vessels, or of 
boats that have been left drawn up on the beach. Most Arctic 
travellers have remarkable adventures to relate, which both 
men and bears have gone through on such occasions. During our 
expedition in 1864, for instance, a large bear came and closely 
examined the contents of a boat covered v/ith a tent, which we 



III.] THE POLAE BEAR. 109 

had left unwatched for a few hours at the bottom of Stor Pjord. 
He. ate up a carefully-cooked reindeer roast, tore the reserve 
clothes, scattered about the ship-biscuit, &c. ; and after we had 
returned in the evening, gathered our things together in a heap, 
closed the tent and lain down to sleep, the same bear returned, 
and, while we slept, appropriated all the reindeer beef we had 
cooked to be used, in place of the roast we had lost, during the 
following day's journey. During one of the English expeditions 
in search of Franklin, there was killed on one occasion, a bear 
in whose stomach there was found, among many other articles, 
the stock of sticking-plaster from a neighbouring depot. The 
bear can also remove very large stones, but a layer of frozen 
sand is too much for him. 

The Polar bear swims exceedingly well, but not so fast as that 
he can escape in this way, if he be pursued in a boat ; if a boat 
and stout rowers are at hand he is accordingly done for, if, as 
often happens, he in attempting to escape seeks his deliverance 
in the sea. There, he is, as the hunters say, " as easy to kill as 
a sheep," but one has to make haste to get hold of the killed 
animal with a harpoon or in some other way, for it speedily 
sinks, unless it is very fat. 

The walrus-hunting vessels from Tromsoe brought home in 
1868 twenty, in 1869 fifty-three, in 1870 ninety-eight, in 1871 
seventy-four, and in 1872 thirty-three bears. It maybe inferred 
from this that the Norwegian walrus-hunters kill yearly on an 
average at least a hundred bears. It is remarkable that in this 
large number a pregnant female or one with newly-born young 
is never found.-^ The female bear appears to keep herself well 
concealed during the time she is pregnant : perhaps in some 
ice-hole in the interior of the country. 

Whether the Polar bear hibernates during winter is not 
quite settled ; various facts, hoAvever, point in this direction. 
For instance, he disappears almost completely from wintering 
stations during the dark time, and holes have sometimes 
been met with in which bears were concealed. Thus it once 
happened to Tobiesen that he went down with one foot into 
such a hole, to the no small dismay not only of the experienced 
walrus-hunter, but also of the bear. 

It is also stated that the bear during the dark time goes to 
the edge of the ice to seek his food. I cannot say positively 
whether this is the case or not ; but the fact points in an 
opposite direction, that while only a single bear was seen in the 
course of the winter in the open water in the neighbourhood of 
our winter station at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, Palander and I 

^ During the wintering- of 1869-70 on East Greenland, Dr. Pansch once 
saw a female bear with quite small youna* {Die zweite deutsche A^ord- 
polarfahrt, Leipzig, 1873-74. Vol. II. p. 157). 



no THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

almost daily saw bears on the hard frozen sea north of North 
East Land. Tracks of bears were visible there in all directions 
on the ice, and along with them light., sinuous traces of the fox. 
There were, on the other hand, no seal holes to be found, and it 
was accordingly difficult to understand wherefore the bears had 
chosen just this desolate stretch of ice as their haunt. The 
bears that were killed were besides uncommonly lean, the fat 
which they yielded being scarcely available as fuel for the 
sledge-party's cooking apparatus. 

During their extended excursions after prey the male and the 
female, the latter generally attended by one or two large young 
ones, keep each other company. Larger numbers are seldom 
Feen together, unless at places where a good many carcases of 
walruses, seals, or white fish are lying. 

In former times the sight of a bear created great dismay in 
Polar travellers, but now the walrus-hunters do not hesitate a 
moment to attack, lance in hand, a large number of bears. 
They have sometimes in this way killed as many as twelve 
within a short time. They depend less on the gun. During 
the expedition of 1861 Carl Chydenius shot three in a few 
minutes, close to his tent-covered boat. 

I do not know a single case in which any Norwegian walrus- 
hunter has been seriously wounded by a bear. It appears, 
however, as if this animal were bolder and more dangerous in 
regions where he has not made acquaintance with man's dan- 
gerous hunting implements. During the first English and 
Dutch voyages to Novaya Zemlya, bears were met with at 
nearly every place where a landing was effected, in regions where 
the Polar bear is now wholly absent, and the travellers were 
compelled to undertake actual combats — combats which cost 
several human lives. Daring Barents' second voyage some men 
on the fith September, 1595, landed on the mainland near the 
eastern mouth of Yugor Schar, in order to collect " a sort -of 
diamonds occurring there " (valueless rock crystals), when a large 
white bear, according to De Veer, rushed forward and caught one 
of the stone collectors by the neck. On the man screaming 
" Who seizes me by the neck ? " a comrade standing beside 
answered, " A bear," and ran off. The bear immediately bit 
asunder the head of his prey, and sucked the blood. The rest of 
the men who were on land now came to his relief, attacking the 
bear with levelled guns and lances. But the bear was not 
frightened, but rushed forward and laid hold of a man in the 
rank of the attacking party, and killed him too, whereupon all 
the rest took to flight. Assistance now came from the vessel, 
and the bear was surrounded by thirty men, but against their 
will, because they had to do with a " grim, undaunted, and greedy 
beast." Of these thirty men only three ventured to attack the 



1I.J THE POLAE BEAR. Ill 

bear, whoni these " courageous " men finally killed, after a rather 
severe struggle. 

A large number of occurrences of a similar nature, though 
commonly attended with fortunate results, are to be found 
recorded in most of the narratives of Arctic travel. Thus 
a sailor was once carried off from a whaler caught in the ice 
in Davis' Straits, and in 1820, among the drift-ice in the 
sea between Greenland and Spitzbergen, the same fate was 
like to befall one of the crew of a Hull whaler; but he succeeded 
in effecting his escape by taking to flight, and throwing to the 
bear, first his only weapon of defence, a lance, and then his 
articles of clothing, one after the other.-^ On the 6th of March 
1870, Dr. Boergen was attacked by a bear, and dragged a 
considerable distance.^ It is remarkable that the bear did not 
this time either kill his prey, but that he had time to cry out, 
" A bear is dragging me away ; " and that, after the bear had 
dragged him several hundred yards and he had got free, he 
could, though very badly scalped, himself make his way back to 
the vessel. The scalping had been done by the bear attempting 
to crush the skull in its mouth, as it is accustomed to do to the 
seals it catches. Scoresby considers it dangerous to hunt the 
Polar bear in deep snow. The well-known Dane> C. Petersen, 
guide to McClintock, Kane and others, on the other hand, 
considered it as little dangerous to attack a bear as to slaughter 
a sheep. The Siberian traveller, Hedenstrom, says that a man 
may venture to do so with a knife tied to a walking-stick, and 
the Norwegian hunters, or at least the Norwegian-Finnish 
harpooners, express themselves in much the same way regarding 
" this noble and dangerous " sport. 

The bear's principal food consists of the seal and walrus. 
It is said that with a single stroke of his powerful paw he can 
cast a walrus up on the ice. On the other hand he seldom 
succeeds in catching the reindeer, because it is fleeter than the 
bear. I have, however, in North East Land, on two occasions, 
seen blood and hair of reindeer which had been caught by bears. 
There is not the least doubt that, along with flesh, the bear also 
eats vegetable substances, as seaweed, grass, and lichens. I 
have several times, on examining the stomach of a bear that 
had been shot, found in it only remains of vegetable substances; 
and the walrus-hunters know this so well that they called a 
large old Polar bear, which Dr. Theel shot at Port Dickson in 
1875, " an old Land-king" that was too fat to go a hunting, and 
therefore ate grass on land. He makes use besides of food of 
many different kinds; a bear, for instance, in the winter 1865-66 

1 W. Scoresby's des Jiingern, Tagehuch einer Reise aiif dem Wallfischfang . 
Aus dem engl. uehers, Hamburg, 1825, p. 127. 

- Die zweite deutsche Nordpolarfahrt, Vol. I. p. 465. 



112 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

consumed for Tobiesen tlie contents of two barrels of salt fish, 
which he had left behind in a deserted hut. 

The flesh of the bear, if he is not too old or has not recently 
eaten rotten seal-flesh, is very eatable, being intermediate in 
taste between pork and beef. The flesh of the young bear is 
white and resembles veal. The eating of the liver causes 
sudden illness. 

Although, as already mentioned, the Polar bear sometimes 
drifts to land and is killed in the northernmost part of Norway, 
his skin is not enumerated by Othere among the products of 
Finmark. It thus appears to have become known in Europe 
first after the Norwegians' discovery of Iceland and Greenland, 
and was at first considered an extraordinary rarity. A Norwegian 
of importance, who had emigrated to Iceland, and there suc- 
ceeded in getting hold of a female bear with two young, sent 
them in 880 to the King of Norway, and got in return a small 
vessel laden with wood. This animal had not then been seen in 
Norway before. The old sagas of the north are said to relate 
further that the priest Isleif, in order to be nominated bishop of 
Iceland, in the year 1056 presented a white bear to Kejsar 
Henrik. In the year 1064 the King of Denmark gave in 
exchange for a white bear from Greenland a well-equipped, full 
rigged, trading vessel, a considerable sum of money, and a 
valuable gold ring.^ 

Marco Polo also says in his account of the country of the 
peace-loving nomad Tatar tribes living in the north, that there 
are to be found there white bears most of them twenty hands long, 
large black foxes, wild asses (reindeer), and a little animal called 
"rondes," from which we get the sable fur.^ As the Polar 
bear is only to be found on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, these 
statements prove that in the thirteenth century the northernmost 
part of Asia was inhabited or at least visited by hunters. Olaus 
Magnus even describes the bear's mode of life not incorrectly, 
with the addition that it was customary to present their skins 
to the altars of cathedrals and parish churches in order that 
the feet of the priest might not freeze during mass.^ The Polar 
bear however first became more generally known in Western 
Europe by the Arctic voyages of the English and Dutch, and its 
price has now sunk so much that its skin, which was once con- 
sidered an article of extraordinary value, is now, in adjusting 
accounts between the owners of a vessel and the walrus -hunters, 
reckoned at from twenty-five to fifty Scandinavian crowns 
(say twenty-eight to fifty-six shillings). 

1 Grdnlands historisJce Mindesmarlcer. Kjobenhavn, 1838, III. p. 384. 
^ Ramusio, Pai't II., Venice, 1588, p. 60. 
^ 01. Magnus. Rome edition, 1555, p. 621. 



in.] 



THE MOUNTAIN FOX. 



113 



In 1609 Stephen Bennet, during his seventh voyage to Bear 
Island, captured two young Polar bears, which were brought to 
England and kept at Paris Garden (Purchas, iii. p. 562). Now 
such animals are very frequently brought to Nor^Yay in order to 
be sent from thence to the zoological gardens of Europe, 
in which the Polar bear is seldom wanting. The capture is 
facilitated by the circumstance that the young bears seldom 
leave their mother when she is killed. 

Along with the reindeer and the bear there are found in 
the regions now in question only two other land -mammalia, 
the mountain-fox ( Vulpes lagopus L.) and the lemming {Myodes 
obensis, Brants).-^ The fox is rather common both on Spitz- 
bergen and Novaya Zemlya. Its abode sometimes consists of 




POLAR BEARS. 

After Olaus Magnus (1555). 

a number of passages excavated in the ground and con- 
nected together, with several openings. Such a nest I saw on 
Wahlberg's Island in Hinloopen Strait on the summit of a 
fowl-fell; it was abundantly provided with a stock of half- 
rotten guillemots, concealed in the passages. The old foxes 
were not visible while we were there, but several young ones, 
some black, some variegated red and white, ran hither and 
thither from out the openings and played with supple move- 
ments in the neighbourhood of the nest. A similar nest also, 
with young that ran between its openings, played and hunted 
each other, I have seen on the north shore of Matotschkin 

1 It is stated that wolves also occur on Novaya Zemlya as far up as to 
Matotsohkin Sound. They are exceedmgly common on the north coasts of 
Asia and Eastern Europe. 

I 



114 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Schar, and uninhabited fox-holes and passages at several 
places on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, commonly in the 
tops of dry sandy knolls. 

The lemming is not found on Spitzbergen, but must at 
certain seasons occur in incredible numbers on Novaya Zemlya. 
For at the commencement of summer, when the snow has 
recently melted away, there are to be seen, everywhere in the 
level fertile places in the very close grass of the meadows, foot- 
paths about an inch and a half deep, which have been formed 
during winter by the trampling of these small animals, under the 
snow, in the bed of grass or lichens which lies immediately 
above the frozen ground. They have in this way united with each 
other the dwellings they had excavated in the ground, and con- 
structed for themselves convenient ways, well protected against 
the severe cold of winter, to their fodder-places. Thou- 
sands and thousands of animals must be required in order to 
carry out this work even over a small area, and wonderfully 
keen must their sense of locality be, if, as seems probable, they 
can find their way with certainty in the endless labyrinth they 
have thus formed. During the snow-melting season these pass- 
ages form channels for running off the water, small indeed, but 
everywhere to be met with, and contributing in a considerable 
degree to the drying of the ground. The ground besides is at 
certain places so thickly strewed with lemming dung, that it 
must have a considerable influence on the condition of the soil. 

In the Arctic regions proper one is not tormented by the 
mosquito,^ and viewed as a whole the insect fauna of the entire 
Polar area is exceedingly scanty, although richer than was 
before supposed. Arachnids, acarids, and podurids occur most 
plentifully, Dr. Stuxberg having been able during the Yenisej 
expedition of 1875 to collect a very large number of them, which 
were worked out after his return — the podurids by Dr. T. 
TuLLBERG of Upsala, the arachnids by Dr. T. Koch of Niirnberg. 
These small animals are found in very numerous individual speci- 
mens, among mouldering vegetable remains, under stones and 
pieces of wood on the beach, creeping about on grass, straws, &c. 

Of the insects proper there were brought home from Novaya 

1 That is to say, not on Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, for it is 
otherwise on the coast of the mainland. In West Greenland the mosquito 
as far north as the southern part of Disco Island is still so terrible, especi- 
ally to the new comer during the first days, that the face of any one who 
without a veil ventures into marshy ground overgrown with bushes, 
becomes in a few hours unrecognisable. The eyelids are closed with 
swelli'ng and changed into water-filled bladders, suppurating tumours are 
formed in the head under the hair, &c. But when a man has once under- 
gone this unpleasant and painful inoculation, the body appears, at least 
for one summer, to be less susceptible to the mosquito-poison. 



III.] POLAR ANIMAL LIFE. 115 

Zemlya, during the same expedition, nine species of coleoptera, 
which were determined by Professor F. W. Maklin, of Hel- 
singfors.-^ Some few hemiptera and lepidoptera and orthoptera, 
and a large number of hymenoptera and diptera from the same 
expedition have been examined by Lector A. E. Holmgren of 
Stockhohn. Dr. Stuxberg also collected a large number of 
land-worms, which have been described by our countryman Dr. 
G. ElSEN, now settled in California. The occurrence of this 
animal group in a region where the ground at the depth of a 
few. inches is continually frozen, appears to me exceedingly 
remarkable — and from a general point of view the occurrence of 
insects in a land which is exposed to a winter cold below the 
freezing-point of mercury, and where the animal cannot seek 
protection from it by creeping down to a stratum of earth which 
never freezes, presupposes that either the insect itself, its egg, 
larva, or pupa, may be frozen stiff without being killed. Only 
very few species of these small animals, however, appear to 
survive such a freezing test, and the actual land-evertebrate- 
fauna of the Polar countries is therefore exceedingly scanty in 
comparison with that of more southerly regions. 

It is quite otherwise as regards the sea. Here animal life is 
exceedingly abundant as far as man has succeeded in making his 
way to the farthest north. At nearly every sweep the dredge 
brings up from the sea-bottom masses of decapods, Crustacea, 
mussels, asterids, echini,^ &c., in varying forms, and the surface 
of the sea on a sunny day swarms with pteropods, beroids, 
surface-crustacea, &c. Dr. Stuxberg will give farther on, a 
sketch of this department of animal life, M'hich in the high 
north is so rich in variety. In the meantime I can but refer to 
the large number of papers on this subject which have been 
issued in the publications of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. 

Of the higher animal types a gTeater number within the Polar 
territory occur in the sea than on the land. Thus by far the greater 

1 As the only Chrysomela, which von Baer found at Matotschkin Schar, 
played so great a 7'dle in Arctic-zoological literature, I shall here enumerate 
the species of coleoptera, now known — after Professor Maklin's determina- 
tion of the collections which we brought home with us — to exist on Novaya 
Zemlya. These are : — Feronia borealis Menetr., F. gelida Makl., Amara 
alpina Fabr., Agabus sulquadrafus Motsch., Homalota sibirica Makl., 
Homalium angustatum Makl., Cylletron (?) hyperboreum Makl., Chrysomela 
septentrio7ialis (/) Menetr., Prasocuris Imnnoverana Fabr., v. degenerata. 
From Vaygats Island we brought home seven species more, which were 
not found on Novaya Zemlya. The insects occur partly under stones, 
pspecially at places where lemming dung is abundant, or in tracts where 
birds'-nests are numerous, partly in warm days on willowrbushes. 

- Echini occur only very sparingly in the Kara Sea and the Siberian 
Polar Sea, but west of Novaya Zemlya at certain places in such numbers 
that they almost appear to cover the sea-bottom. 

I 2 



CHAP. in. J THE WALRUS. ' 117 

number of the birds I have enumerated above belong to the 
sea, not to the land, and this is the case with nearly all the 
animals which for three or four hundred years back have been the 
objects of capture in the Arctic regions. This industry, which 
during the whale-fishing period yielded a return perhaps equal to 
that of the American oil-wells in our time, has not now in the 
most limited degree the importance it formerly had. For the 
animal whose capture yielded this rich return, the right whale 
(^Balmna mysticetus L.), is now so extirpated in these navigable 
waters, that the whalers were long ago compelled to seek new 
fishing-places in other parts of the Polar seas. It is therefore 
no longer the whale, but other species of animals which attract 
the hunter to the coasts of Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya. 

Of these animals the most important for the last fifty years 
has been the walrus, but it too is in course of being extirpated. 
It is now seldom found during summer on the Avest coast of 
Novaya Zemlya south of Matotschkin Schar. During our visits 
to that island in 1875, 1876, and 1878 we did not see one of 
these animals. But in the Kara Gate, on the east coast of 
Novaya Zemlya, and at certain places in the Kara Sea, abundant 
hunting is still to be had. Earlier in the year the walrus is also 
to be met with among the drift-ice on the west coast, and to the 
south, off the mouth of the Petchora, although the number of 
the animals that are captured by the Samoyeds at Chabarova 
appears to be exceedingly small. On the other hand the Dutch, 
in their first voyages hither, saw a considerable number of 
these gregarious animals. The walrus, however, did not then 
occur here in such abundance as they did at the same time on 
Spitzbergen and Bear Island, which evidently formed their 
principal haunts. 

During Stephen Bennet's third voyage to Bear Island in 1606, 
700 to 800 walruses were killed there in six hours, and in 1608 
nearly 1,000 in seven hours. The carcases left lying on the 
beach attracted bears thither in such numbers that, for instance, 
in 1609 nearly fifty of them were killed by the crew of a single 
vessel. At one place eighteen bears were seen at once (Purchas, 
iii. p. 560), A Norwegian skipper was still able during a 
wintering in 1824-25 to kill 677 walruses. But when Tobiesen 
wintered there in 1865-66 he killed only a single walrus, and 
on the two occasions of my landing there I did not see one. 
Formerly the hunters almost every year, during late autumn 
when the drift-ice has disappeared, found " walrus on land," i.e. 
herds of several hundred walruses which had crept up on some 
low, even, sandy beach, to pass days and weeks there in an 
almost motionless state. During this period of rest most of 
them appear to be sunk in deep sleep, yet not all, for — according 
to the concurrent statements of all the walrus-hunters with 



118 THE VOYAGE OF THE A^EGA. [chap. 

whom I have conversed on this subject — they keep a watch to 
warn their comrades when danger is near. If necessary pre- 
cautions are observed, i.e. if the hunters approach the beach 
where the animals are assembled when the wind blows from the 
land, and kill with the lance those that lie nearest the water, the 
rest are slaughtered without difficulty, being prevented by the 
carcases of their dead comrades from reaching the sea. Now 
such an opportunity for the hunter happens exceedingly seldom ; 
there are famous headlands on which in former times the 
walrus was-found by hundreds/in whose neighbourhood now not 
a single one is to be seen. 

In the sea too there are certain places which the walrus 
principally haunts, and which are therefore known by the 
hunters as walrus-banks. Such a bank is to be found in the 
neighbourhood of Muffin Island, situated on the north coast 
of Spitzbergen in 80° north latitude, and the animals that have 
been killed here must be reckoned by thousands. Another bank 
of the same kind is to be met in 72° 15' north latitude, on 
the coast of Yalmal. The reason why the walruses delight to 
haunt these places is doubtless that they find there abundant food, 
which does not consist, as has often been stated, of seaweed, but 
of various living mussels from the bottom of the sea, principally 
Mija tnmcata and Saxicava rugosa. Their fleshy parts are freed, 
before they are swallowed, so remarkably well from the shells, 
and cleaned so thoroughly, that the contents of the stomach 
have the appearance of a dish of carefully-shelled oysters. In 
collecting its food the walrus probably uses its long tusks to 
dig up the mussels and worms which are deeply concealed in 
the clay.^ Scoresby states that in the stomach of a walrus he 
found, along with small crabs, pieces of a young seal. 

The largest walrus tusks I have seen were two of a male 
walrus purchased-in the summer of 1879 at St. Lawrence Island, 
in the north part of Behring's Sea. They measured 830 and 
825 millimetres in length, their largest circumference was 227 
and 230 millimetres, and they weighed together 6,680 gram. 
I have seen the tusks of females of nearly the same length, but 
they are distinguished from those of the male by being much 
more slender. The surface of the tusks is always full of cracks, 
but under it there is a layer of ivory free of cracks, which again 
incloses a grained kernel of bone which at some places is semi- 
transparent, as if drenched with oil. 

When the walrus ox gets very old, he swims about by 

^ Compare Malmgren's instructive papers in the publications of the 
Royal (Swedish) Academy of Sciences and Scoresby's Arctic Regions, 
Edinburgh, 1820, i., p. 502. That the walrus eats mussels is ah-eady 
indicated in the Dutch drawing from the beginning of the seventeenth 
century reproduced below, page 123. 



WALRUS-HUNTING. 



119 



himself as a solitary individual, but otherwise animals of the 
same age and sex keep together in large herds. The young- 
walrus long follows its mother, and is protected by her with 
evident fondness and very conspicuous maternal affection. Her 
first care, when she is pursued, is accordingly to save her young- 
even at the sacrifice of her o^vn life. A female walrus with 
young is nearly always lost, if they be discovered from a hunting 
iDoat. However eagerly she may try by blows and cuffs to get 
her young under water or lead her pursuers astray by diving 




WALRUS TUSKSi 

A. Tusk of male, outside, b. Tusk of male, inside. 
One-tenth of natural size. 



c. Tusks of female. 



with it under Ler forepaw, she is generally overtaken and killed. 
Such a hunt is truly grim, but the walrus-hunter knows no 
mercy in following his occupation. The walrus, especially the 
old solitary male, sleeps and rests during autumn, when the 
drift-ice has disappeared, also in the water, with his head now 
above the surface, now under it, and with his lungs so strongly 
inflated that the body is kept floating, with part of the back 
projecting out of the water. The latter way of sleeping is 
indeed possible only for so long at once as the animal can keep 



120 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



below, but this is said to be a very long time. If a bunting 
boat meets a walrus sleeping in this way it is first wakened with 
a loud " strike up " before it is harpooned, " in order that in 
its fright it may not knock a hole in the boat with its tusks." 
The walrus sinks and is lost, if he is killed by a shot while in 
the water, or if he be shot while lying on a piece of ice, .but 
without being killed so instantaneously that- he cannot cast 
himself into the water in his death struggles. He is killed 
accordingly almost exclusively with the harpoon or lance. 

The harpoon consists of a large 
and strong iron hook, very sharp 
on the outer edge, and provided with 
a barb. The hook is loosely fixed 
to the shaft, but securely fastened 
to the end of a slender line ten 
fathoms long, generally made of 
walrus hide. The line is fastened 
at its other end to the boat, in the 
forepart of which it lies in a carefully 
arranged coil. There are from five 
to ten such harpoon lines in every 
hunting boat. When the hunters 
see a herd of walrus, either on a 
piece of drift-ice or in the water, 
they endeavour silently and against 
the wind to approach sufficiently 
near to one of the animals to be able 
to harpoon it. If this is managed, 
the walrus first dives and then 
endeavours to swim under water all 
he can. But he is fixed with the 
line to the boat, and must draw it 
along with him. His comrades 
swim towards the boat, curious to 
ascertain the cause of the alarm. 
A new walrus is fixed with another 
harpoon, and so it goes on, one after 
another, until all the harpoons are 
in use, The boat is now drawn forward at a whizzing speed, 
although the rowers hold back with the oars ; but there is no 
actual danger as long as all the animals draw in the same 
direction. If one of them seeks to take a different course 
from that of his comrades in misfortune, his line must be cut 
off, otherwise the boat capsizes. When the walruses get exhausted 
by their exertions and by loss of blood, the hunters begin to 
haul in the lines. One animal after the other is drawn to the 
^tem of the boat, and there they commonly first get a blow on 



HUNllNG IMPLEMENTS. 

( l)Harpoon, and(2) Lance for Walrus- 
hunting. (3)"Skottel" for the capture 
of the White Whale. 
<3ne-flfteenth of natural size. 



III.] WALEUS CHARACTERISTICS. 121 

the head with the flat of a lance, and when they turn to guard 
against it, a lance is thrust into the heart. Since breechloaders 
have begun to be used by the walrus-hunters, they often prefer to 
kill the harpooned walruses with a ball instead of " lancing" them. 
To shoot an unharpooned walrus, on the other hand, the walrus 
hunters formerly considered an unpardonable piece of thought- 
lessness, because the animal was in this way generally wounded 
or killed without any advantage accruing. They therefore 
expressed themselves with great irritation against the tourists 
who sometimes came to Spitzbergen, and in this way destroyed 
the hunting. It cannot however be denied that they themselves 
in recent times have often followed the bad example, and many 
consider that this is one of the main reasons of the great dim- 
inution in the numbers of the walrus of late years. Should 
an international code be established for hunting in the Polar sea, 
all shooting of unharpooned walruses ought to be forbidden in 
the first place. 

Gregariousness and curiosity appear to be the main charac- 
teristics of the walrus. These qualities of theirs I had an 
opportunity of observing when once, on a glorious northern 
summer day, I rowed forward over a mirror-bright, drift-ice- 
bestrewn sea right into the midst of a considerable herd of 
these animals. Part followed the boat long distances quite 
peaceably, now and then emitting a grunting sound ; others 
swam quite close, and raised themselves high out of the water 
in order to take a view of the foreigners ; others, again, lay 
so closely packed on pieces of drift-ice as to sink them down 
to the water's edge, while their comrades swimming about 
in the sea endeavoured with violence to gain a place on the 
already overfilled resting-places, though a number of unoccupied 
pieces of ice floated up and down in the neighbourhood. 

When the hunters have killed a female walrus, it often 
happens that they take the young living. It is easily tamed, 
and soon regards its keeper with warm attachment. It seeks, 
as best it can — poorly equipped as it is for moving about 
on dry land — to follow the seamen on the* deck, and gives 
itself no rest if it be left alone. Unfortunately, one does not 
succeed in keeping them long alive, probably because it is 
impossible to provide them with suitable food. There are 
instances, however, of the young of the walrus being brought 
to Europe alive. Thus it is said (Purchas, iii., p. 560), that 
Master Welden and Stephen Bennet, on the §"^- July, 1608, 
caught two young walruses alive, one a male and the other 
a female. The female died before they reached England, but 
the male lived ten weeks. He was carried to court, shown 
to the king and many honourable gentlemen, and excited 
general admiration for his extraordinary form and great docility. 



122 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



A young walrus that was taken to St. Petersburg in 1829-30, 
also died in a short time. It gave occasion to K. E. von Baer's 
famous treatise : " Anatomische und zoologische Untersuch- 
ungen liber das Wallross/' printed in Memoir es de I'Academie 
ImpSriale des Sciences de St.. Fetcrsbourg, ser. vi., t. iv. 2, 1838, 
p. 97. 

The walrus is hunted for its skin, blubber, and oil. The 
value of a full-grown walrus was calculated at Tromsoe, in 
1868, in settling accounts between the owners of hunting 
sloops and the hunters, at eighty Scandinavian crowns (say 




WALHUS HUNTING. 

After Olaus Magnus (1555). 



Afl. lOs.), but it sank in 1871 to only forty-eight crowns (say 
2Z. 15s.). The flesh of the walrus is coarse and train-flavoured, 
and is eaten by the hunters only in cases of necessity. From 
my own experience, however, I can certify that its compara- 
tively small tongue is very delicious. By the Eskimo and the 
Chukchis the flesh of the walrus is considered a delicacy. 

The walrus was doubtless hunted by the Polar tribes long 
before the historic period,^ but it is mentioned for the first time 
in writing in the sketch of Othere's Arctic journey. The 
narrative shows that it was then captured on the north coast of 
Scandinavia. This appears the less improbable, as a walrus now 
and then even in our days drifts to land on the Norwegian coast, 
and walruses are still annually killed off Swjatoinos on the 
Kola peninsula.^ The walrus is very correctly described in the 
well-known Norse confession written in the end of the eleventh 

^ Implements of walrus-bone occur among the Northern gvsive Jinds. 
^ Compare note ^ at page 41 above. 



III.J 



OLD ACCOUNTS OF THE WALRUS. 



123 



century, " Konungs skuggsja" (the King's Mirror), as an animal 
resembling the seal,^ except that, besides several smaller teeth, it 
has two' large tusks which project beyond the upper jaw. This 
clear and unexaggerated sketch is however replaced in the later 
writings of the middle ages by the most extraordinary accounts 
of the animal's appearance and mode of capture. Thus Albertus 
Magnus,"^ who died in 1280, says that the walrus is taken by the 




WALRUSES (female with young). 
Old Dutch drawing.3 



hunter, while the sleeping animal hangs by its large tusks to a 
cleft of the rock, cutting out a piece of its skin and fastening to 

1 I saw in 1858 a Phoca harbata with tusks worn away by age, whicli 
in its reddish-brown colour very much resembled a walrus, and was little 
inferior to it in size. 

2 Albertus Magnus, De animalihus, Mantua, 1479, Lib. xxiv. At the 
same place however is given a description of the whale-fishery grounded 
on actual experience, but with the shrewd addition that what the old 
authors had written on the subject did not correspond with experience. 

3 This drawing is made after a facsimile by Frederick Miiller from 
Hessel Gerritz, Descriptio et delineatio geographica detectionis freti^ &e. 
Amsterodami, 161.8. The same drawing is reproduced coloured in Blavii 
Atlas major, Part I., 1665, p. 25, with the inscription: "Ad vivum 
delineatum ah Hesselo GA." 



124 



THE VOYAGE OB' THE VEGA. 



[chap . 



it a strong rope whose other end is tied to trees, posts, or large 
rings fixed to rocks. The walrus is then wakened by throwing 
large stones at its head. In its attempts to escape it leaves its 
hide behind. It perishes soon after, or is thrown up half dead 
on the beach. He further states that walrus lines on account of 
their strength are suitable for lifting great weights, and that they 
are always on sale at Cologne, They were probably used at the 




JAPAKESE DRAWING OF THE WALRUS. ■" 



building of the Cathedral there. Similar extraordinary repre- 
sentations of the appearance and mode of life of the walrus are 

^ The drawing is taken from a Japanese manuscript book of travels- — • 
No. 360 of the Japanese library which I brought home. According to a 
communication by an attache of the Japanese embassy which visited Stock- 
holm in the autumn of 1880, the book is entitled Kau-kai-i-fun, "Narrative 
of a remarkable voyage on distant seas." The manuscript, in four volumes, 
was written in 1830. In the introduction it is stated that when some 
Japanese, on the 21st November, 1793 (?), were proceeding with a cargo 
of rice to Yesso, they were thrown out of their course by a storm, and 
were driven far away on the sea, till in the beginning of the following- 
June they came to some of the Aleutian islands, which had recently been 
taken by the Russians. They remained there ten months, and next year 
in the end of June they came to Ochotsk. The following year in autumn 
they were carried to Irkutsk,, where they remained eight years, well treated 
by the Russians. They were then taken to St. Petersburg, where they 
had an audience of the Czar, and got furs and splendid food. Finally 
they were sent back by sea round Cape Horn to Japan in one of Captain 
von Krusenstern's vessels. They were handed over to the Japanese 
authorities in the spring of 1805, after having been absent from their 
native country about thirteen years. From Nagasaki they were carried to 
Yeddo, where they were subjected to an examination. One person put 
questions, another wrote the answers, and a third showed by drawings all 
the remarkable events they had survived. They were then sent to their 
native place, In the introduction it is further said that the shipwrecked 
were -unskilful seamen, by whom little attention was often given to the 
most important matters. A warning accordingly is given against full 
reliance on their accounts and the drawings in the book. The latter 
occupy the fourth part of the work, consisting of more than 100 quarto 
pages. It is remarkable that the first Russian circumnavigation of the 
globe, and the first journey of the Japanese round the world, happened at 
the same time. 



III.] THE WALRUS AND SEAL. 125 

repeated in a more or less altered form even by Olans Magnus, 
whose representation of the walrus is shown by the woodcut on 
page 123. 

The ^~ of August 1556, the year after the publication of the 
work of Olaus Magnus, a West European saw for the first time 
some actual walruses, which had been killed by Russian hunters 
at Vaygats Island. No description of the animal, however, 
is given, but from that period all the members of the English 
and Dutch north-east expeditions had opportunities of seeing 
walruses in hundreds and thousands. It was now first that man 
learned actually to know this remarkable animal which had 
been decked out in so many fables. To this period belongs the 
beautiful and natural delineation of the walrus which is given 
above. 

A peculiarity of the walrus may be mentioned here. The 
hide, especially in old males, is often full of wounds and scratches, 
which appear to be caused partly by combats and scraping 
against sharp pieces of ice, partly by some severe disease of the 
skin. Mr. H. W. Elliot has remarked this of the walrus in 
Behring's Sea.^ The walrus is also troubled with lice, which 
is not the case, so far as I know, with any kind of seal. 
Masses of intestinal worms are found instead in the stomach 
of the seal, while on the contrary none are found in that 
of the walrus. 

With reference to the other animals that are hunted in the 
Polar Sea I am compelled to be very brief, as I have scarcely 
any observations to make regarding them which are not already 
sufficiently known by numerous writings. 

There are three kinds of seals on Novaya Zemlya. Storsaehn, 
the bearded seal (Fhoca tarbata, Fabr.) occurs pretty generally 
even on the coasts of Spitzbergen, though never in large flocks. 
The pursuit of this animal is the most important part of the 
seal-fishing in these waters, and the bearded seal is still killed 
yearly by thousands. Their value is reckoned in settling 
accounts between owners and hunters at twenty to twenty-five 
Scandinavian crowns (say 22s. to 27s. Qd. 

Groenlands or Jcm-Mayen-saelen, the Greenland seal {Phoca 
Oroenlandica, Mliller), which at Jan May en gives occasion to so 
profitable a fishing, also, is of general occurrence among the 
drift-ice in the Murman and Kara seas. 

Snaddcn, the rough or bristled seal {Plioca hispida, Erxl.) is also 
common on the coast. These animals in particular are seen to 
lie, each at its hole, on the ice of ijords, which has not been 
broken up. It also many times follows with curiosity in the 

1 A Report upon the. Condition of Affairs in the Territory of Alasla. 
Washington, 1875, p. 160. 



CHAP. III.] THE BLADDERNOSE SEAL. 127 

wake of a vessel for long distances, and can then be easily shot 
because it is often so fat that, unlike the two other kinds of 
seals, it does not sink when it has been shot dead m the 

water. ■ x tt ^ \ 

Klapnytsen, the bladdernose seal {Cysiophora cristata,b.vxl), 
the walrus-hunters say they have never seen on Novaya Zemiya, 




THE BEARDED SEAL. 

Swedish, Storsal. (Pliooa barhala, Fabr.) 




THE BOUGH SEAL. 

Swedish, Snadd. {Plwca 7usptrf(X,'Erxl.) 

but it is Stated to occur yearly in pretty large ^^"^^^^j;^,^^'; 
the ice W S.W. of South Cape on Spitzbergen. Only once 
during our many voyages in the Polar Sea hasa Klapwytsheen 
seen, viz., a young one that was killed in 1858 m the neighbour- 
hood of Bear Island. ■, ^ -,- ,• -1,1 

Of the various species of Avhales, the narwhal, distinguished 



128 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



by its long and valuable horn projecting in tlie longitudinal 
direction of the body from the upper jaw, now occurs so seldom on 
the coast of Novaya Zemlya that it has never been seen there 
by the Norwegian walrus-hunters. It is more common at Hope 
Island, and Witsen states (p. 903) that large herds of narwhals 
have been seen between Spitzbergen and JSfovaya Zemlya. 

The white whale or beluga, of equal size with the narwhal, 
on the other hand, occurs in large shoals on the coasts of 
Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, especially near the mouths of 
fresh-water streams. These animals were formerly captured, but 
not with any great success, by means of a peculiar sort of 
harpoon, called by the hunters " skottel." Now they are caught 
with nets of extraordinary size and strength, which are laid out 
from the shore at places which the white whales are wont to 
frequent. In this way there were taken in the year 1871, when 
the fishing appears to have been most productive, by vessels 
belonging to Tromsoe alone, 2,167 white whales. Their value 
was estimated at fifty-four Scandinavian crowns each (about 3/.). 




THE WHITE WHALE. (Delphirinpti'yvs h'licas, rnllas.) 
After a drawing by A. W. Quennerstedt (1864). 

The fishing, though tempting, is yet very uncertain ; it soinetimes 
falls out extraordinarily abundant, as in the spring of 1880, when 
a skipper immediately on arriving at Magdalena Bay caught 300 
of these animals at a cast of the net. Of the whales thus 
killed not only the blubber and hide are taken away, but also, 
when possible, the carcases, which when cheap freight can be 
had, are utilised at the guano manufactories in the north of 
Norway. After having lain a whole year on the beach at 
Spitzbergen they may be taken on board a vessel without any 
great inconvenience, a proof that putrefaction proceeds with 
extreme slowness in the Polar regions. 

With its blinding milk-Avhite hide, on which it is seldom 
possible to discover a spot, wrinkle, or scratch, the full-grown 
white whale is an animal of extraordinary beauty. The young 
whales are not white, but very light greyish brown. The white 
whale is taken in nets not only by the Norwegians at Spitzbergen, 
but also by the Kussians and Samoyeds at Chabarova. " In 
former times they appear to have been also caught at the mouth 
of the Yenisej, to judge by the large number of vertebrae that 



III.] WHALES. 129 

ar,e found at the now deserted settlements there. The white 
whale there goes several hundred kilometres vip the river. I 
have also seen large shoals of this small species of whale on the 
north coast of Spitzbergen and the Taimur peninsula. 

Other species of the whale occur seldom on IMovaya Zemlya. 
Thus on this occasion only two small whales were seen during 
our passage from Tromsoe, and I do not remember having seen 
more than one in the sea round Novaya Zemlya in the course of 
my two previous voyages to the Yenisej. At the north part of 
the island, too, these animals occur so seldom, that a hunter told 
me, as something remarkable, that towards the end of July, 1873, 
W.N.W. of the western entrance to Matotschkin Schar 20' to 30' 
from land, he had seen a large number of whales, belonging to 
two species, of which one was Si slaethval, and the other had as 
it were a top, instead of a fin, on the back. 

It is very remarkable that whales still occur in great abun- 
dance on the Norwegian coast, though they have been hunted 
there for a thousand years back, but, on the other hand, if we 
except the little white whale, only occasionally east of the 
White Sea. The whale fishing which was carried on on so 
grand a scale on the west coast of Spitzbergen, has therefore 
never been prosecuted to any great extent on Novaya Zemlya ; 
and fragments of skeletons of the whale which are found thrown 
up in such quantities on the shores of Sj)itzbergen, are not to be 
found, so far as my experience reaches, either on the shores of 
Novaya Zemlya, on the coast of the Kara Sea, or at the places 
on the north coast of Siberia between the Yenisej and the Lena, 
at which we landed. The sacrifices which were so long made 
in vain in the endeavour to find a passage to China in this 
direction accordingly were not compensated, as on Spitzbergen, 
by the rise of a profitable whale fishery. Meeting Avith a whale 
is spoken of by the first seafarers in these regions as something 
ver}^ remarkable and dangerous ; for instance, in the account of 
Stephen Burrough's voyage in 1556: — "On St. James his 
day, there was a monstrous whale aboord of us, so neere to our 
side that we might have thrust a sworde or any other weapon in 
him, which we durst not doe for feare he should have over- 
throwen our shippe ; and then I called my company together, 
and all of us shouted, and with the crie that we made he de- 
parted from us ; there was as much above water of his back as 
the bredth of our pinnesse, and at his falling down he made 
such a terrible noise in the water, that a man would greatly have 
marvelled, except he had known the cause of it ; but, God be 
thanked, we were quietly delivered of him." ^ When Nearchus 
sailed with the fleet of Alexander the Great from the Indus to 
the Red Sea, a Avhale also caused so great a panic that it was 

1 Hakluyt, first edition, p. 317. 

K 



130 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. iii. 

only with difficulty that the commander could restore order 
among the frightened seamen, and get the rowers to row to the 
place where the whale spouted water and caused a commotion 
in the sea like thac of a whirlwind. All the men now shouted, 
struck the water with their oars, and sounded their trumpets, so 
that the large, and, in the judgment of the Macedonian heroes, 
terrible animal, was frightened. It seems to me that from these 
incidents we may draw the conclusion that great whales in 
Alexander's time were exceedingly rare in the sea which 
surrounds Greece, and in Barrough's time in that which washes 
the shores of England. Quite otherwise was the whale regarded 
on Spitzbergen some few years after Burrough's voyage by the 
Dutch and English whalers. At the sight of a whale all men 
were out of themselves with joy, and rushed down into the boats 
in order from them to attack and kill the valuable animal. The 
fishery was carried on with such success, that, as has already 
been stated, the right whale [Balcena mysticetus L.), whose 
pursuit then gave full employment to ships by hundreds, and to 
men by tens of thousands, is now practically extirpated. Thus 
during our many voyages in these waters we have only seen one 
such whale, which happened on the 23rd June, 1864, among the 
drift-ice off the west coast of Spitzbergen in 78° N.L. As the 
right whale still occurs in no limited numbers in other parts of 
the Polar Sea, and as there has been no whale fishing on the 
coast of Spitzbergen for the last forty or fifty years, this state of 
things shows how difficult it is to get an animal type to return 
to a region where it has once been extirpated, or from which it 
has been driven away. 

The whale which Captain Svend Foeyn has almost exclusively 
hunted on the coast of Finmark since 1864 belongs to quite 
another species, Maohvalen {Balcenoptera Sihbaldii Gray) ; and 
there are likewise other species of the whale which still in pretty 
large numbers follow shoals offish to the Norwegian coast, where 
they sometimes strand and are killed in considerable numbers. 
A tandhval, killer or sword-fish [Orca gladiator Desm.) was even 
captured some years ago in the harbour of Tromsoe. This whale 
was already dying of suffocation, caused by an attempt to 
swallow an eider which entered the gullet, not, as the proper way 
is, with the head, but with the tail foremost. When the mouth- 
ful should have slidden down, it was prevented by the stiff' 
feathers sticking out, and the bird stuck in the whale's throat, 
which, .to judge by the extraordinary struggles it immediately 
began to make, must have caused it great inconvenience, 
which was increased still more when the inhabitants did not 
neglect to take advantage of its helpless condition to harpoon it. 



CHAP. IV.] YUGOR SCHAR OR THE KARA SEA. 131 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Origin of the names Yugor Schar and Kara Sea — Rules for Sailing 
through Yugor Schar — The "Highest Mountain" on Earth — An- 
chorages — Entering the Kara Sea — Its Surroundings — The Inland-ice 
of Novaya Zemlya — True Icebergs rare in certain parts of the Polar 
Sea — The Natural Conditions of the Kara Sea — Animals, Plants, Bog 
Ore — Passage across the Kara Sea — The Influence of the Ice on 
the Sea-bottom — Fresh-water Diatoms on Sea-ice — Arrival at Port 
Dickson — Animal Life there^ — Settlers and Settlements at the Mouth of 
the Yenisej — The Flora at Port Dickson — Evertebrates — Excursion to 
White Island — Yalmal — Previous Visits — Nummelin's Wintering on the 
Briochov Islands. 

In crossing to Vaygats Island I met the Lena, -which then first 
steamed to the rendezvous that had been fixed upon. I gave 
the captain orders to anchor without delay, to coal from the 
Express, and to be prepared immediately after my return from 
the excursion to weigh anchor and start along with the other 
vessels. I came on board the Vega on the evening of the 31st 
July, much pleased and gratified with what I had seen and 
collected in the course of my excursion on Vaygats Island. 
The Lena, however, was not quite ready, and so the start was put 
oft' till the morning of the 1st August. All the vessels then 
weighed anchor, and sailed or steamed through Vaygats Sound 
or Yugor Schar into the Kara Sea. 

We do not meet with the name Yugor Schar in the oldest 
narratives of travel or on the oldest maps. But it is found in 
an account dating from 1611, of a Russian commercial route 
between " Pechorskoie Zauorot and Mongozei," which is annexed 
to the letter of Richard Finch to Sir Thomas Smith, already 
quoted (Purchas, iii. p. 539). The name is clearly derived 
from the old name, Jugaria, for the land lying south of the sound, 
and it is said, for instance, in the map to Herberstein's work, 
to have its name from the Hungarians, who are supposed to 
derive their origin from these regions. The first Dutch north- 
east explorers called it Vaygats Sound or Fretum Nassovicum. 
More recent geographers call it also Pet's Strait, which is 
incorrect, as Pet did not sail through it. 

There was at first no special namfe for the gulf between the 
Taimur peninsula and Novaya Zemlya. The name " Carska 
Bay " hoAvever is to be found already in the information about 
sailing to the north-east, communicated to the Muscovie Oompanie 
by its principal factor, Antonie Marsh (Purchas, iii. p. 805). 
At first this name was applied only to the estuary of the Kara 
river, but it was gradually transferred to the whole of the 
neighbouring sea, whose oldest Samoyed name, also derived 

K 2 



132 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEOA. [chap. 

from a river, was in a somewhat Eussianised form, "Neremskoe" 
(compare Purchas, iii. p. 805, Witsen, p. 917). I shall in the 
following part of this work comprehend under the name " Kara 
Sea" the whole of that gulf which from 77° N.L. between Cape 
Chelyuskin and the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya extends 
towards the south to the north coast of Europe and Asia. 

Captain Palander gives the following directions for sailing 
through the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland : — 

" As Yugor Straits are difficult to discover far out at sea, good 
solar observations ought to be taken on approaching them, where 
such can be had, and after these the course is to be shaped 
in the middle of the strait, preferably about jST.E. by the compass. 
On coming nearer land (three to four P^ngiish miles) one dis- 
tinguishes the straits with ease. Afterwards there is nothing 
else to observe than on entering to keep right in the middle of 
the fairway. 

" If one wishes to anchor at the Samoyed village one ought 
to keep about an English mile from the land on the starboard, 
and steer N.E. by the compass, until the Samoyed huts are 
seen, when one bends off from starboard, keeping the church a 
little to starboard. For larger vessels it is not advisable to go 
in shallower water than eight to nine fathoms, because the depth 
then diminishes rather suddenly to from three to four fathoms. 

" From the Samoyed village the course is shaped right to 
the south-east headland of Vaygats Island (Suchoi Nos), which 
ought to be' passed at the distance of half an English mile. 
Immediately south-west of this headland lies a very long shoal, 
which one ought to take care of. 

" From this headland the vessel is to be steered N.|^E. out 
into the Kara Sea. With this course there are two shoals on 
starboard and two on port at the distance of half an English mile. 

" The depth is in general ten fathoms ; at no place in the 
fairway is it less than nine fathoms. 

"Vessels of the greatest draught may thus sail through 
Yugor Schar. In passing the straits it is recommended to 
keep a good outlook from the top, whence in clear weather 
the shoals may easily be seen." 

In the oldest narratives very high mountains, covered with ice 
and snow, are spoken of as occurring in the neighbourhood of 
the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland. It is 
even said that here were to be found the highest mountains 
on earth, whose tops were said to raise themselves to a height 
of a hundred German miles.^ The honour of havings the hio^hest 

^ Les moeurs et usages des Ostiackes, par Jean Bernard Muller, Capitaine 
de dragon au service de la Suede, pendant sa captivity en Sib^rie (Eecueil 
de Voiages au Nord. T. VIII., Amsterdam, 1727, p. 389). 



IV.] SAILING THROUGH YUGOR SCHAR. 133 

mountains on earth has since been ascribed by the dwellers 
on the plains of Northern Russia to the neighbourhood of 
Matotschkin Schar, " where the mountains are even much higher 
than Bolschoj Kamen," a rocky eminence some hundreds of feet 
high at the mouth of the Petchora — an orographic idea which 
forms a new proof of the correctness of the old saying : — " In the 
kingdom of the blind the one-eyed is king." Matotschkin Schar 
indeed is surrounded by a wild Alpine tract with peaks that 
rise to a height of 1,000 to 1,200 metres. On the other hand 
there are to be seen around Yugor Straits only low level plains, 
terminating towards the sea with a steep escarpment. These 
plains are early free of snow, and are covered with a rich turf, 
which yields good pasture to the Samoyed reindeer herds. 

Most of the vessels that wish to sail into the Kara Sea through 
Yugor Schar require to anchor here some days to wait for favoui-- 
able winds and state of the ice. There are no good harbours 
in the neighbourhood of the sound, but available anchorages 
occur, some in the bay at Chabarova, at the western entrance 
of the sound ; some, according to the old Dutch maps, on the 
eastern side of the sound, between Mestni Island (Staten Eiland) 
and the mainland. I have, however, no experience of my own 
of the latter anchorages, nor have I heard that the Norwegian 
walrus-hunters have anchored there. Perhaps by this time they 
are become too shallow. 

When we sailed through Yugor Schar in 1878, the sound was 
completely free of ice. The weather was glorious, but the wind 
was so light that the sails did little service. In consequence 
of this we did not go very rapidly forward, especially as I wished 
to keep the three vessels together, and the sailing ship Express, 
not to be left behind, had to be towed by the Fraser. Time was 
lost besides in dredging and taking specimens of water. The 
dredgings gave at some places, for instance off Chabarova, a rich 
yield, especially of isopods and sponges. The samples of water 
showed that already at a limited depth from the surface it had 
a considerable salinity, and that therefore no notable portion 
of the mass of fresh water, which the rivers Kara, Obi, Tas, and 
Yenisej and others pour into the Kara Sea, flows through this 
sound into the Atlantic Ocean. 

In the afternoon of the 1st August we passed through the 
sound and steamed into the sea lying to the east of it, which 
had been the object of so many speculations, expectations, and 
conclusions of so many cautious governments, merchants eager 
for gain, and learned cosmographers, from the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, and which even to the geographer and 
man of science of the present has been a mare incognitum down 
to the most recent date. It is just this sea that formed the 
turning-point of all the foregoing north-east voyages, fron> 



134 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Burrougli's to Wood's and Vlamiugh's, and it may therefore not 
be out of place here, before I proceed further with the sketch 
of our journey, to give some accovint of its surroundings and 
hydrography. 

If attention be not fixed on the little new-discovered island, 
" Ensamheten," the Kara Sea is open to the north-east. It 
is bounded on the west by Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island ; 
on the east by the Taimur peninsula, the land between the 
Pjaesina and the Yenisej and Yalmal ; and on the south by the 
northernmost portion of European Russia, Beli Ostrov, and the 
large estuaries of the Obi and the Yenisej. The coast between 
Cape Chelyuskin and the Yenisej consists of low rocky heights, 
formed of crystalline schists, gneiss, and eruptive rocks, from 
the Yenisej to beyond the most southerly part of the Kara 
Sea, of the Gyda and Yalmal tundras beds of sand of equal 
fineness, and at Vaygats Island and the southern part of 
Novaya Zemlya (to 73° N.L.) of limestone and beds of schist ^ 
which slope towards the sea with a steep escarpment three 
to fifteen metres high, but form, besides, the substratum of a 
level plain, full of small collections of water which is quite 
free of snow in summer. North of 73° again the west coast 
of the Kara Sea is occupied by mountains, w^hich near 
Matotschkin are very high, and distributed in a confused 
mass of isolated peaks, but farther north become lower and 
take the form of a plateau. 

Where the mountains begin, some few or only very incon- 
siderable collections of ice are to be seen, and the very moun- 
tain tops are in summer free of snow. Farther north glaciers 
commence, which increase towards the north in number and 
size, till they finally form a continuous inland-ice which, like 
those of Greenland and Spitzbergen, with its enormous ice-sheet, 
levels mountains and valleys, and converts the interior of the 
land into a wilderness of ice, and forms one of the fields for the 
formation of icebergs or glacier-iceblocks, which play so great 
a rdle in sketches of voyages in the Polar seas. I have not 
myself visited the inland-ice on the northern part of Novaya 
Zemlya, but doubtless the experience I have previously gained 
during an excursion with Dr. Berggren on the inland-ice of 
Greenland in the month of July 1870, after all the snow on it 
had melted, and with Captain Palander on the inland-ice of 
North-East Land in the beginning of June 1873, before any 
melting of snow had commenced, is also applicable, to the ice- 
wilderness of north Novaya Zemlya. 

^ I come to this conclusion from the appearance of the strata as seen 
from the sea, and from their nature on Vaygats Island and the west coast 
of Novaya Zemlya. So far as I know, no geologist has landed on this part 
of the east coast. 



IV.] 



INLAND-ICE TRAVELLING. 



135 



As on Spitzbergen the ice-field here is doubtless interrupted 
by deep bottomless clefts, over which the snowstorms of winter 
throw fragile snow-bridges, which conceal the openings of the 
abysses so completely that one may stand close to their edge 
without having any suspicion that a step further is certain . 
death to the man, who, without observing the usual precaution 
of being bound by a rope to his companions, seeks his way 
over the blinding- white, almost velvet-like, surface of this 
snow-field, hard packed indeed, but bound together by no 
firm crust. If a man, after taking necessary precautions against 
the danger of tumbling down into these crevasses, betakes 
himself farther into the country ii^ the hope that the apparently 
even surface of the snow will allow of long day's marches, he is 
soon disappointed in his expectations ; for he comes to regions 
where the ice is everywhere crossed by narrow depressions, 
canals, bounded by dangerous clefts, with perpendicular walls 
up to fifteen metres in height. One can cross these depressions 




SECTION OF INLAND-ICE. 



A. Open glacier-canal, b. Snow-flUed canal, c. Canal concealed by a snow-vault. 
D. Glacier-clefts. 



only after endless zigzag wanderings, at places where they have 
become filled with snow and thereby passable. In summer 
again, when the snow has melted, the surface of the ice- 
wilderness has quite a different appearance. The snow has 
disappeared and the ground is now formed of a blue ice, which 
however is not clean, but everywhere rendered dirty by 
a grey argillaceous dust, carried to the surface of the 
glacier by wind and rain, probably from distant mountain 
heights. Among this clay, and even directly on the ice itself, 
there is a scanty covering of low vegetable organisms. The 
ice-deserts of the Polar lands are thus the habitat of a peculiar 
flora, which, insignificant as it appears to be, forms however 
an important condition for the issue of the conflict which goes 
on here, year after year, century after century, between the sun 
and the ice. For the dark clay and the dark parts of plants 
absorb the warm rays of the sun better than the ice, and 
therefore powerfully promote its melting. They eat themselves 



136 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAr. IV. 

down in perpendicular cylindrical holes thirty to sixty centi- 
metres in depth, and from a few millimetres to a whole metre 
in diameter. The surface of the ice is thus destroyed and 
broken up. 

After the melting of the snow there appears besides a number 
of inequalities, and the clefts previously covered with a fragile 
snow-bridge now gape before the wanderer where he goes 
forward, with their bluish-black abysses, bottomless as far as 
we can depend on ocular evidence. At some places there are 





VIEW FROM THE INLAND-ICE OF GREENLAND. 

After a drawing by S. Berggren, 23rd July, 1870. 



also to be found in the ice extensive shallow depressions, down 
whose sides iniiumerable rapid streams flow in beds of azure- 
blue ice, often of such a volume of water as to form actual 
rivers-. They generally debouch in a lake situated in the middle 
of the depression. The lake has generally an underground 
outlet through a grotto-vault of ice several thousands of feet 
high. At other places a river is to be seen, which has bored 
itself a hole through the ice-sheet, down which it suddenly 
disappears with a roar and din which are heard far and wide, 







s»i 



M^'s^aHs:' 




SLOWLY-ADVANCING GLACIER, 



It Foul Bay, on the west coast of Spitzbergen, after a photograph taken by A. Envall. 
30th August, 1872. 




GLACIER WITH STATIONARY FRONT, 

Udde Bay, on Novaya Zemlya, after a drawing by Hj. Th^el (1875). 



138 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



and at a little distance from it there is projected from the ice a 
column of water, which, like a geyser with a large intermittent 
jet in which the water is mixed with air, rises to a great height. 
Now and then a report is heard, resembling that of a cannon 
shot fired in the interior of the icy mass. It is a new crevasse 
that has been formed, or if one is near the border of the ice- 
desert, an ice-block that has fallen down into the sea. For, like 
ordinary collections of water, an ice-lake also has its outlet into 
the sea. These outlets are of three kinds, viz., ice-rapids, in 
which the thick ice-sheet, split up and broken in pieces, is 




GREENLAND ICE FJOED. 

After a design drawn and lithographed by a Greenland Eslvimo. 



pressed forward at a comparatively high speed down a narrow 
steeply-sloping valley, where ice-blocks tumble on each other 
with a crashing noise and din, and from which true icebergs 
of giant-like dimensions are projected in hundreds and thousands ; 
hroad, slotvly-a.dvancing glaciers, which terminate towards the 
sea with an even perpendicular face, from which now and then 
considerable ice-blocks, but no true icebergs, fall down ; and 
smaller stationary glaciers, which advance so slowly that the ice 
in the brim melts away about as fast as the whole mass of ice 
glides forward, and which thus terminate at the beach not with 



IV.] ICE AND ICEBERGS. 139 

a perpendicular face but with a long ice-slope covered with clay, 
sand, and gravel. 

The inland-ice on Novaya Zemlya is of too inconsiderable 
extent to allow of any large icebergs being formed. There are 
none such accordingly in the Kara* Sea,^ and it is seldom that 
even a large glacier ice-block is to be met with drifting about. 

The name ice-house, conferred on the Kara Sea by a 
famous Russian man of science, did not originate from the large 
number of icebergs,^ but from the fact that the covering of 
ice, which during winter, on account of the severity of the cold 
and the slight salinity of the surface-water, is immensely thick, 
cannot, though early broken up, be carried away by the marine 
currents and be scattered over a sea that is open even during 
winter.^ Most of the ice formed during winter in the Kara Sea, 
and perhaps some of that which is drifted down from the Polar 
basin, is on the contrary heaped by the marine currents against 
the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, where during early summer it 
blocks the three sounds which unite the Kara Sea witli the 
Atlantic. It was these ice-conditions which caused the failure of 
all the older north-east voyages and gave to the Kara Sea its 

1 Sometimes, however, icebergs are to be met with in the most northerly 
part of the Kara Sea and on the north coast of Novaya Zemlya, whither 
they may drive down from Franz Josef Land or from other yet unknown 
Polar lands lying farther north. 

2 In most of the literary narratives of Polar journeys colossal icebergs 
play a very prominent part in the author's delineations both with the pencil 
and the pen. The actual fact, however, is that icebergs occur in far 
greater numbers in the seas which are yearly accessible than in those in 
which the advance of the Polar travellers' vessel is hindered by impene- 
trable masses of ice. If we may borrow a term from the geography of 
plants to indicate the distribution of icebergs, they may be said to be more 
boreal than polar forms of ice. All the fishers on the coast of Newfound- 
land, and most of the captains on the steamers between New York and 
Liverpool, have some time or other seen true icebergs, but to most north- 
east voyagers this formation is unknown, though the name iceberg is often 
in their narratives given to glacier ice-blocks of somewhat considerable 
dimensions. This, however, takes place on the same ground and with the 
same justification as that on which the dwellers on the Petchora consider 
Bolschoj-Kamen a very high mountain. But although no true icebergs 
are ever formed at the glaciers so common on Spitzbergen and also on 
North Novaya Zemlya, it however often happens that large blocks of ice 
fall down from them and give rise to a swell, which may be very dangerous 
to vessels in their neighbourhood. Thus a wave caused by the falling of 
a piece of ice from a glacier on the 23rd (13th) of June, 1619, broke the 
masts of a vessel anchored at Bell Sound on Spitzbergen, threw a cannon 
overboard, killed three men, and wounded many more (Purchas, iii., 
p. 734). Several similar adventures, if on a smaller scale, I could relate 
from my own experience and that of the walrus-hunters. Care is taken 
on this account to avoid anchoring too near the perpendicular faces of 
glaciers. 

3 It may, however, be doubted whether the ivhole of the Kara Sea is 
completely frozen over in winter. 



140 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

bad report and name of ice-house. Now we know that it is not 
so dangerous in this respect as it was formerly believed to be — 
that the ice of the Kara Sea melts away for the most part, and 
that during autumn this sea is quite available for navigation. 

In general our knowledge of the Kara Sea some decades 
back was not only incomplete, but also erroneous. It was be- 
lieved that its animal life was exceedingly scanty, and that algas 
were absolutely wanting ; no soundings had been taken else- 
where than close to the coast ; and much doubt was thrown, not 
without reason, on the correctness of the maps. Now all this is 
changed to a great extent. The coast line, bordering on the 
sea, is settled on the maps; the ice-conditions, currents and 
depth of water in different parts of the sea are ascertained, and 
we know that the old ideas of its poverty in animals and plants 
are quite erroneous. 

In respect to depth the Kara Sea is distinguiKshed by a 
special regularity, and by the absence of sudden . changes. 
Along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats Island 
there runs a channel, up to 500 metres in depth, filled 
with cold salt-water, which forms the haunt of a fauna 
rich not only in individuals, but also in a large number 
of remarkable and rare types, as Umbellula, Elpidia, Alecto, 
asterids of many kinds, &c. Towards the east the sea-bottom 
rises gradually and then forms a plain lying 30 to 90 metres 
below the surface of the sea, nearly as level as the surface of 
the superincumbent water. The bottom of the sea in the south 
and west parts of it consists of clay, in the regions of Beli 
Ostrov of sand, farther north of gravel. Shells of Crustacea and 
pebbles are here often surrounded by bog-ore formations, 
resembling the figures on page 186. These also occur over an 
extensive area north-east of Port Dickson in such quantity that 
they might be used for the manufacture of iron, if the region 
were less inaccessible. 

Even in the shallower parts of the Kara Sea the water at 
the bottom is nearly as salt as in the Atlantic Ocean, and all 
the year round cooled to a temperature of — 2° to — 2°-7. The 
surface-water, on the contrary, is very variable in its composition, 
sometimes at certain places almost drinkable, and in summer 
often strongly heated. The remarkable circumstance takes 
place here that the surface water in consequence of its limited 
salinity freezes to ice if it be exposed to the temperature which 
prevails in the salt stratum of water next the bottom, and that 
it forms a deadly poison for many of the decapoda, worms, 
mussels, Crustacea and asterids which crawl in myriads among 
the beds of clay or sand at the bottom. 

At many places the loose nature of the bottom does not 
j)ermit the existence of any algse, but in the neighbourhood of 



IV.] 



THE KAEA SEA. 



141 



Bell Ostrov, Joliannesen discovered ex- 
tensive banks covered with " sea-grass " 
(algse), and from the east coast of Novaya 
Zemlya Dr. Kjellman in 1875 collected 
no small number of algse/ being thereby 
enabled to take exception to the old 
erroneous statements as to the nature of 
the marine flora. He has drawn up for 
this work a full account of the marine 
vegetation in the Kara Sea, which will 
be found further on. 

I shall now return to the account of our 
passage across this sea. On this subject my 
journal contains the following notes : 

August 2nd. Still 
no ice. The Lena appears 



glorious weather — 
to wish to 




'^i'^l^ 




UMBELLtTLA FROM THE KAEA SEA. 

A. Polype stem entire, one-half the natural size. a 

B, Polype stem, upper part, one-and-a-half times the natural size. 

1 Already in 1771 one of Pallas' companions, the student Sujeff, found 
large algse in the Kara Sea (Pallas, Heise. St. Petersburg, 1771 — 1776, 
iii. p. 34). 



142 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



l^CSAP. 





ELPIDIA GLACIALIS (tHEZL), rEOM THE KARA SEA. 

Magnified three times. 
■ A. Belly. B, Back. 





MANGAJSIFEHOUS IKON-ORB FORMATIONS FROM THE KARA SEA. 

Half the naturr.lsize. 



IV.] PROGRESS OF THE EXPEDITION. 143 

get away from the other vessels, and does not observe the 
flag which was hoisted as the signal agreed upon beforehand 
that her Captain should come on board, or at least bring his 
little vessel within hail. The Fraser was therefore sent in 
pursuit, and succeeded in overtaking her towards night. 

August Srd. In the morning Captain Johannesen came on 
board the Vega. I gave him orders to take on board Dr. 
Almquist and Lieutenants Hovgaard and Nordquist, and go 
with them to Beli Ostrov, where they should have freedom for 
thirty-six hours to study the people, animals, and plants, as they 
pleased ; the Lena was then, if possible, to pass through the 
Sound between the island and Yalmal to Port Dickson, where 
the three other vessels should be found. Almquist, Nordquist, 
and Hovgaard were already quite in order for the excursion ; 
they went immediately on board the Lena, and were soon, 
thanks to the great power of the engine in proportion to the 
size of the vessel, far on their way. 

In the course of the day we met with very open and rotten 
ice, which would only have been of use to us by its moderating 
effect on the sea, if it had not been accompanied by the usual 
attendant of the border of the ice, a thick fog, which however 
sometimes lightened. Towards evening we came in sight of 
Beli Ostrov. This island, as seen from the sea, forms a quite 
level plain, which rises little above the surface of the water. 
The sea off the island is of an even depth, but so shallow, that 
at a distance of twenty to thirty kilometres from the shore there 
is only from seven to nine metres of water. According to a 
communication from Captain Schwanenberg, there is, however, 
a depth of three to four metres close to the north shore. Such 
a state of things, that is, a uniform depth, amounting near the 
shore to from four to ten metres, but afterwards increasing only 
gradually and remaining unchanged over very extensive areas, 
is very common in the Arctic regions, and is caused by the 
ice-mud-work which goes on there nearly all the year round. 
Another remarkable effect of the action of the ice is that all the 
blocks of stone to be found in the sea next the beach are forced 
up on land. The beach itself is formed accordingly at many 
places, for instance at several points in Matotschkin Sound, of a 
nearly continuous stone rampart going to the sea level, while 
in front of it there is a quite even sea bottom without a 
fragment of stone. 

August 4<th. In the morning a gentle heaving indicated that 
the sea was again free of ice, at least over a considerable space 
to windward. Yesterday the salinity of the water was already 
diminished and the amount of clay increased ; now the water 
after being , filtered is almost drinkable. It has assumed a 
yellowish-grey colour and is nearly opaque, so that the vessel 



144 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

appears to sail in clay mud. We are evideatly in the area of 
the Ob-Yenisej current. The ice we sailed through yesterday 
probably came from the Grulf of Obi, Yenisej or Pjasina. Its 
surface was dirty, not clean and white like the surface of 
glacier-ice or the sea-ice that has never come in contact with 
land or with muddy river-water. Off the large rivers the ice, 
when the snow has melted, is generally covered with a yellow 
layer of clay. This clay evidently consists of mud, which had 
been washed down by the river-water and' been afterwards 
thrown up by the swell on the snow-covered ice. The layer of 
snow acts as a filter and separates the mud from the water. 
The former, therefore, after the melting of the snow may form 
upon true sea-ice a layer of dirt, containing a large number of 
minute organisms which live only in fresh water. 



SECTION FKOM THE SOUTH COAST OF MA.TOTSCHKIN SOUND, 

Showing the origin of Stone-ramparts at the beach. 

August 5th. Still under sail in the Kara Sea, in which a 
few pieces of ice are floating about. The ice completely dis- 
appeared when we came north-west of Beli Ostrov. We were 
several times in the course of the day in only nine metres of 
water, which, however, in consequence of the evenness of the 
bottom, is not dangerous. Fog, a heavy sea, and an intermittent 
but pretty fresh breeze delayed our progress. 

August 6th. At three o'clock in the morning we had land 
in sight. In the fog we had gone a little way up the Gulf 
of Yenisej, and so had to turn in order to reach our destination. 
Port Dickson. The mast-tops of the Uxjjress were seen pro- 
jecting over islands to the north, and both vessels soon anchored 
south of an island which was supposed to be Dickson's Island, 



IV.] LAND IN SIGHT. 145 

but .when the Fraser soon after joined us we learned that this 
was a mistake. The shore, which, seen from our first anchorage, 
appeared to be that of the mainland, belonged in fact to the 
pretty extensive island, off which the haven itself is situated. 

After an excursion on land, in the course of which a covey 
of partridges was seen, and Dr. Kjellman on the diorite rocks of 
the island made a pretty abundant collection of plants, belonging 
partly to species which he had not before met with in the 
Arctic regions, we ' again weighed anchor in order to remove to 
the proper harbour. 

Captain Palander went before in the steam launch in order to 
examine the yet unsurveyed fairway. On the way he fell in 
with and killed a bear, an exceedingly fat and large male. Like 
the bear Dr. Theel shot here in 1875, he had only mosses and 
lichens in his stomach, and as it is scarcely probable that the 
bear in this region can catch a great many seals in summer, it 
is to be supposed that his food consists principally of vegetable 
substances, with the addition perhaps of a reindeer or two 
when he can succeed in getting hold of them. In the year 1875 
we saw here an old male bear that appeared to pasture quite 
peaceably in company with some reindeer, probably with a view 
to get near enough to spring upon them. Bears must besides 
be very common in that part of the north coast of Siberia, for 
during the few days we now remained there, two more were 
shot, both of them very fat. 

The haven, which has now been surveyed by Lieutenant Bove, 
was discovered by me in 1875 and named Port Dickson. It is 
the best known haven on the whole north coast of Asia, and will 
certainly in the future be of great importance for the foreign 
commerce of Siberia. It is surrounded on all sides by rocky 
islands, and is thus completely sheltered. The anchorage is a 
good clay bottom. The haven may be entered both from the 
north and from the south-west ; but in sailing in, caution should 
be used, because some rocky shoals may be met with which are 
not shown on Lieutenant Bove's sketch chart, which was made 
in the greatest haste. The water probably varies con- 
siderably as to its salinity with the season of the year and 
with ebb and flood tides, but is never, even at the surface, com- 
pletely fresh. It can therefore be used in cooking only in case 
of the greatest necessity. But two streams on the mainland, 
one debouching north and the other south of the harbour, yield 
an abundant supply of good water, in case snow water cannot be 
obtained from any of the beds of snow which up to autumn are 
to be found at several places along the strand escarpments in 
the neighbourhood of the harbour. 

At our arrival six wild reindeer were seen pasturing on Dick- 
son's Island ; one of them was killed by Palander, the others were 

L 



146 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap iv. 

stalked unsuccessfully. Some bears, as has already been stated, 
were also seen, and everywhere among the heaps of stones there 
were numerous remains of the lemming and the fox. With 
these exceptions there were few of the higher animals. Of 
birds we thus saw only snow-buntings, which bred among the 
stone heaps both on the mainland and on the islands, a 
covey of ptarmigan, a large number of birds, principally 
species of Tringa and Phalaropus, but not further deter- 
mined, eiders, black guillemots and burgoniasters in limited 
numbers, and long-tailed ducks and loons in somewhat greater 
abundance. There are no " down islands," and as there are no 
precipitous shore cliffs neither are there any looneries. A 
shoal of fish was seen in Lena Sound, and fish are probably 
exceedingly abundant. Seals and white whales also perhaps 
occur here at certain seasons of the year in no small numbers. 
It was doubtless with a view to hunt these animals that a 
hut was occupied, the remains of which are visible on one of the 
small rocky islands at the north entrance into the harbour. The 
ruin, if we may apply the term to a wooden hut which has 
fallen in pieces, showed that the building had consisted of a 
room with a fireplace and a storehouse situated in front, and 
that it was only intended as a summer dwelling for the hunters 
and fishers who came hither during the hunting season from the 
now deserted simovies ^ lying farther south. 

I am convinced that the day will come when great warehouses 
and many dwellings inliabited all the year round will be found at 
Port Dickson. Now the region is entirely uninhabited as far 
as Goltschicha, although, as the map reproduced here shows, 
numerous dwellino^-houses were to be found built along the river 
bank and sea-shore beyond the mouth of the Yenisej and as far 
as to the Pjasina. They have long since been abandoned, in the 
first place in consequence of the hunting falling off, but probably 
also because even here, far away on the north coast of Siberia, 
the old simple and unpretentious habits have given way to 
new wants which were difficult to satisfy at the time when 
no steamers carried on traffic on the river Yenisej. Thus, for 
instance, the difficulty of procuring meal some decades back, 
accordingly before the commencement of steam communication 
on the Yenisej, led to the abandonment of a simovie situated on 
the eastern bank of the river in latitude 72° 25' north. 

The siw-ovies at the mouth of the Yenisej formed in their 
time the most northerly fixed dwelling-places of the European 
races.2 Situated as they were at the foot of the cold tundra, 

1 Dwellings intended both for winter and summer habitation. 

2 The most northerly fixed dwelling-place, which is at present inhabited 
by Europeans, is the Danish commercial post Tasiusak, in north-western 
Greenland, situated in 73° 24' N.L. Hew little is known, even in Russia, 



MAP 



MOUTH OF THE YENISEJ 

FROM 

ATLAS RUSSICUS CURA ET OPERE ACADEMIC 
IMPEBIALIS SCIENTIARUM PETROPOLITAN^.. 
PETROPOLI 1745. 



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148 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAP. 



exposed to continual snowstorms in winter and to close fogs 
during the greater part of summer, which here is extremely 
short, it seems as if they could not offer their inhabitants 
many opportunities for enjoyment, and the reason why this tract 
was chosen for a residence, especially in a country so rich in 
fertile soil as Siberia, appears to be difficult to find. The 
remains of an old simovie (Krestovskoj), which I saw in 1875 
while travelling up the river along with Dr. Lundstrom and Dr. 
Stuxberg, however, produced the impression that a true home 
life had once been led there. Three houses with turf-covered 




RUINS OF A SIMOVIE AT KRFSTOVSKOJ. 

After a drawing by A. Stuxberg. 

roofs then still remained in such a state that one could form an 
idea^ of their former arrangement and of the life which had 
been carried on in them. Each cabin contained a whole laby- 
rinth of very small rooms ; dwelling-rooms with sleeping places 
fixed to the walls, bake-rooms with immense fireplaces, bathing 
houses with furnaces for vapour-baths, storehouses for train-oil 
with large train-drenched blubber troughs hollowed out of 



of the former dwellina:s at the moutli of tlie Yenisej may be seen from 
Neueste Nachrichten iiber die nbrdlichste Gegend von Sibirien zwischen den 
Flilssen Pjdssida und Chatanga in Fragen und Antworten abgefasst. Hit 
Einleitung wnd Anmerhungen vom Herausgeber (K. E. v. Baer und Gr. v. 
Helmersen, Beitrdge zur Kenntniss des russischen Reiches, vol. iv. p. 269. 
St. Petersburg, 1841). 



IV.] SCARCITY OF RUSSIAN HOUSEWIVES. 149 

enprmous tree-stems, blubber tanks with remains of the white 
whale, &c., all witnessing that the place had had a flourishing 
period, when prosperity was found there, when the home was 
regarded with loyalty, and formed in all its loneliness the central 
point of a life richer perhaps in peace and well-being than one 
is inclined beforehand to suppose. 

In 1875 a "prikaschik" (foreman) and three Russian 
labourers lived all the year round at Goltschicha. Sverevo was 
inhabited by one man and Priluschnoj by an old man and his 
son. All were poor; they dwelt in small turf-covered cabins, 
consisting of a lobby and a dirty room, smoked and sooty, with 
a large fireplace, wooden benches along the walls, and a sleeping 
place fixed to the wall, high above the floor. Of household 
furniture only the implements of fishing and the chase were 
numerously represented. There were in addition pots and pans, 
and occasionally a tea-urn. The houses were all situated near 
the river-bank, so high up that they could not be reached by 
the spring inundations. A disorderly midden was always to be 
found in the near neighbourhood, with a number of draught 
dogs wandering about on it seeking something to eat. Only 
one of the Russian settlers here was married, and we were 
informed that there was no great supply of the material for 
Russian housewives for the inhabitants of these regions. At 
least the Cossack Feodor, who in 1875 and 1876 made several 
unsuccessful attempts to serve me as pilot, and who himself 
was a bachelor already grown old and wrinkled, complained 
that the fair or weaker sex was poorly represented among the 
Russians, He often talked of the advantages of mixed 
marriages, being of opinion, under the inspiration of memory 
or hope, I know not which, that a Dolgan woman was the 
most eligible parti for a man disposed to marry in that part of 
the world, 

A little farther south, but still far north of the limit of trees, 
there are, however, very well-to-do peasants, who inhabit large 
simovies, consisting of a great number of houses and rooms, in 
which a certain luxury prevails, where one walks on floor- 
coverings of skins, where the windows are whole, the sacred 
pictures covered with plates of gold and silver, and the walls 
provided with mirrors and covered with finely coloured copper- 
plate portraits of Russian Czars and generals. This j)rosperity 
is won by traflic with the natives, who wander about as nomads 
on the tundra with their reindeer herds. 

The cliffs around Port Dickson consist of diorite, hard and 
difficult to break in pieces, but weathering readily. The rocky 
hills are therefore so generally split up that they form enormous 
stone mounds. They were covered with a great abundance of 



150 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CIIAP. 



lichens, and the plains between them yielded to Dr. Kjellman 
the following phanerogamous plants : 



Cineraria frigida Richards. 

Erigeron uniflorus L. 

Saussurea alpina DC. 

Taraxacum phymatocarpura J. Vahl. 

Gymnandra Stelleri Ch. & ScHL. 

Pedicularis sudetica Willd. 

„ hirsuta L. 

„ Oederi Vahl. 

Eritrichium villosura BuNGE. 
Myosotis silvatica Hoffm. 
Astragalus alpinus L. 
Oxytropis campestris (L.) DC. 
Dryas octopetala L. 
Sieversia glacialis R. Br. 
Potentilla emarginata PuRSH, 
Saxifraga oppositifolia L. 

,, bronchialis L. 

,, Hirculus L. 

„ stellaris L. 

,, nivalis L. 

„ hieraciifoliaWALDST.&KiT, 

,5 punctata L. 

„ cernua L. 

,, rivularis L. 

„ csespitosa L. 
Chrysosplenium alternifolium L. 
Rhodiola rosea L. 
Parrya macrocarpa R. Br. 
Cardaraine pratensis L. 

„ bellidifolia L. 

Eutrema Edwardsii R. Br. 
Cochlearia fenestrata R. Br. 
Draba alpina L. 

„ oblongata (R. Br.) DO. 
„ corymbosa R. Br. 
„ Wahlenbergii Hk. 
„ altaica (Ledeb.) Bunge. 
Papaver nudicaule L. 
Ranunculus pygmseus Wg. 



Ranunculus liyperboreus RoTTB. 

„ . iapponicus L. 

„ nivalis L. 

„ sulphureus SoL. 

,, affinis R, Br. 

Caltha palustris L. 
Wablbergella apetala (L.) Fr. 
Stellaria Edwardsii R. Br. 
Cerastium alpinum L. 
Alsine arctica Fenzl. 
„ macrocarpa Fenzl. 
„ rubella Wg. 
Sagina nivalis Fr. 
Oxyria digyna (L.) HiLL, 
Rumex arcticus Trautv. :; 

Polygonum viviparum L. 

„ Bistorta L. 

Salix polaris Wg. 
Festuca rubra L. 
Poa cenisea All. 

,, arctica R. Br. 
Glyceria angustata R. Br. 
Catabrosa algida (Sol.) Fr. 

„ concinna Th. Fr. 
Colpodium latifolium R. Br. 
Dupontia Fisberi R. Br. 
Koeleria hirsuta Gaud. 
Aira csespitosa L. 
Alopecurus alpinus Sm. 
Eriopborum angustifolium Roth. 
„ vaginatum L. 

„ Scbeuchzeri Hoppe. 

Carex rigida Good. 
,, aquatilis Wg. 
Juncus biglumis L. 
Luzula hyperborea R. Br. 

„ arctica Bl. 
Lloydia serotina (L.) Reich en p.. 



Our botanists thus made on land a not inconsiderable 
collection, considering the northerly position of the region. On 
the other hand no large algse were met with in the sea, nor was 
it to be expected that there would, for the samples of water 
taken up with Ekman's instrument showed that the salinity at 
the bottom was as slight as at the surface, viz. only 0'3 per 
cent. The _ temperature of the water was also at the time of 
our visit about the same at the bottom as at the surface, viz, 
-4- 9° to + 10°. In spring, when the snow melts, the water 
here is probably quite fresh, in winter again cold, and as 



IV.] 



SIEVERSIA GLACIALIS. 



151 



salt as at the bottom of the Kara Sea. Under so variable 
hydrographical conditions we might have expected an ex- 
ceedingly scanty marine fauna, but this was by no means the 
case. For the dredgings in the harbour gave Dr. Stuxberg a 
not inconsiderable yield, consisting of the same types as those 
which are found in the salt water at the bottom of the Kara Sea. 




SIEVERSIA GLACIALIS R. BR. 

From Port Dickson. 



This circumstance appears to show that certain evertebrate 
types can endure a much greater variation in the temperature 
and salinity of the water than the algae, and that there is a 
number of species which, though as a rule they live in the 
strongly cooled layer of salt water at the bottom of the 
Kara Sea, can bear without injury a considerable diminution in 
the sahnity of the water and an increase of temperature of 
about 12^ 



152 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[niAP. 



For the science of oar time, which so often places the origin 
of a northern form in the south, and vice vcrsd, as the foundation 
of very wide theoretical conclusions, a knowledge of the types 
which can live by turns in nearly fresh water of a temperature 
of 4- 10°, and in water cooled to — 2°"7 and of nearly the same 
salinity as that of the Mediterranean, must have a certain 
interest The most remarkable were, according to Dr. Stuxberg, 
the following: a spacies of Mysis, Diastylis Bathkci Kk., 
Idothea cntomon Lin., Idothea Sahmei Kr., two species of 
Lvsianassida, Ponloporei'a setosa Stbrg., Halimcdon hrcvicalcar 
Goiis, an Annelid, a Molgula, Yuldin intermedia M. Sars, 
Yoldia Q) arctica Gray, and a Solecurtus. 





EVERTEBRATE3 FBOJI POBT DICKSON. 

A. Yoldia arotica Gray. One and two-thirds of natural size. b. Diastylis Rathkei Kr. 
Magnified three times. 



Driftwood in the form both of small branches and pieces of 
roots, ami of whole trees with adhering portions of branches 
and roots, occurs in such quantities at the bottom of two well- 
protected coves at Port Dickson, that the seafarer may without 
difficulty provide himself with the necessary stock of fuel. The 
great mass of the driftwood which the river bears along, 
however, does not remain on its own banks, but floats 
out to sea to drift about with the marine currents until 
the_ wood has absorbed so much water that it sinks, or 
until it is thrown up on the shores of Novaya Zemlya, the 



IV.] EXCURSION TO BELI OSTROV. 153 

north coast of Asia, Spitzbergen or perhaps Greenland. 
Another portion of the wood sinks, before it reaches the sea, 
often in such a way that the stems stand upright in the river 
bottom, with one end, so to say, rooted in the sand. They may 
thus be inconvenient for the navigation, at least at the shallower 
places of the river. A bay immediately off Port Dickson 
was almost barred by a natural palisade-work of driftwood 
stems. 

August 7th. The Vega coaled from the Express. In the 
evening the Lena arrived, 36 hours after the Vega, had anchored, 
that is to say, precisely at the appointed time. Concerning this 
excursion Dr. Almquist reports : 

" On the 2nd August we — Hovgaard, Nordquist and I — went 
on board the Lena to make an excursion to BeH Ostrov. We 
were to land on the south-western headland and there undertake 
botanical and zoological researches. Thereafter we were to 
direct some attention to the opposite shore of Yalmal and visit 
the Samoyeds living there. 

" We left the Vega at eleven o'clock forenoon. In the course 
of the day we saw here and there in the south scattered ice, and 
at half-past ten at night we ran into a large belt, about 300 
metres broad, of scattered ice, which lay stretched out from N.E. 
to S. W. It was passed without difficulty. In the course of the 
night we now and then fell in with a little scattered ice, and in 
the morning with a belt of masses of ice of considerable dimen- 
sions ; sounding constantly in 10 to 3^ metres water we succeeded, 
notwithstanding the fog and rain, in finding the straits between 
Beli Ostrov and the mainland, and on the 3rd August at eleven 
o'clock forenoon we anchored a little to the east of the southern 
extremity of the island. The Lena lay in Z\ metres water, 
about an English mile out to sea. The water was shallow for 
so great a distance from the beach that we had to leave our 
boat about 300 metres out to sea and wade to land. 

" Beli Ostrov consists entirely of fine sand, and only on that 
part of the beach which is washed by the sea-water did we see 
any stones as large as walnuts ; higher up we did not find a 
piece of stone even of the size of the nail. The highest point 
of the island appears to be scarcely three metres above the 
surface of the sea. That part of the island over which the sea 
water washes, that is, the beach and the deep bays which indent 
the land here and there, shows the fine sand bare, without trace 
of vegetation. Where the ground rises a little, it becomes 
covered with a black and white variegated covering of mosses 
and lichens ; scattered among which at long intervals are small 
tufts of grass. First somewhat higher up, and properly only round 
the marshy margins of the numerous small fresh- water lakes and 



154 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA» [chap. 

in liollows and bogs, is the ground slightly green. The higher 
plants are represented by only 17 species, all small and stunted,^ 
most of them rising only some few lines above the sand. Very 
few plants reached a height of 15 centimetres. No kind of 
willow was found, nor any flower seen of any other colour than 
green or white. 

" The lichen-flora too was scanty. No species showed any 
great luxuriance, and seldom did the black and white lichen- 
crust produce any ' apothecium.' The lichen- vegetation was 
most abundant on the driftwood of the beach and on the tufts 
in the marshes. The larger lichens, as the reindeer and Iceland 
lichens, occurred very sparingly. About 80 species were found. 
The land evertebrates were so sparingly represented, that only 
three diptera, one species of hymenoptera, and some insect larvae 
and spiders could be collected. Only podurse were found in 
great abundance ; they completely covered the whole ground at 
the beach. 

" Several herds of reindeer were seen, but we did not succeed 
in getting within range of them. A little fish of the Cottus 
family was caught by Nordquist in a ditch which was in connec- 
tion with the sea. Driftwood still fresh was found in great 
abundance, and farther up on land here and there lay a more 
rotten stem. 

" Rain and fog rendered impossible any determination of 
position. During night we went across the sound and anchored 
about an English mile and a half from the shore of Yalmal, 
right opposite some Samoyed tents which we discovered a little 
inland. In the same unfavourable weather as that of the day 
before we attempted to land there, but found the water too 
shallow. First pretty far to the east we succeeded in reaching 
the beach at a place where the land rose out of the sea with a 
steep bank about nine metres high. Above the bank, which 
consisted of loose clay, we found a plain with the appearance of 
a rich watered tundra, full of marshes and streams, and therefore 
presenting a very green appearance. In order to meet with the 
Samoyeds we now went westwards, passing several rivulets which 

^ The collections made here were after our return determined by Dr, 
Kjellman, who has communicated the following list : 

Saxifraga stellaris L. , Aira cjBspitosa L. 

„ cernua L. Hierochloa pauciflora E. Br. 

,; rivularis L. Eriophorum russeolum Fr. 
Cochlearia fenestrata E. Br. „ Scheuchzeri HoprE. 

Stellaria humifusa EOTTB, Carex salina Wg. 
Sagina nivalis Fr. ,, ursina Desv. 

Arctophila pendulina (LiEST.) Ands. Luzula hyperborea E. Br. 
Catabrosa algida (Sol.) Fr. „ arclica Bl. 

Dupontia Fisheri E. Br. 



IV.] 



YALMAL. 



155 



cut deeply into the land and had high banks, until after half an 
hour's walking we came to abroad but not very deep river, which 
it was impossible to ford. We therefore returned to our boat with 
the view of seeking a landing-place on the other side of the river ; 
but as the Lena's distance from land was considerable and the 
breeze was freshening, the captain considered that the time at 
our disposal did not permit us to undertake so long an excursion. 

" So far as we may judge from our hasty visit, the vegetation 
on this part of Yalmal struck us as being remarkably abundant. 
The high banks especially were richly covered by phanerogamous 
plants and lichens, and would have deserved a closer examination. 
Our cursory observations of the plants here may however be 
interesting for comparison with the flora of Beli Ostrov; we 
collected and noted the higher plants^ and about 40 species of 
lichens. Nordquist found that the fauna resembled that of the 
neighbouring island, and collected besides two species of 
Coleoptera. 

" After lying 26 hours in the sound we weighed anchor again 
and went westwards, following a channel with ten to sixteen 
metres water. We could not find its course farther to the east, 
and were compelled, although we were near the eastern extremity 
of Beli Ostrov, to turn in order to pass out through the western 
entrance of the sound. We saw a quantity of stranded ice on 
the north coast of the island, which, seen from the sea, did not 
present any dissimilarity to the part which we had visited. On 
the 7th August we arrived at Port Dickson." 

From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report on this excursion, a map 
is given here of Beli Ostrov and the neighbouring coast of 
Yalmal, in which I have named the sound between the island 
and the mainland after Malygin, one of the gallant Russian 
seamen who first sailed through it nearly a century and a 
half ago. 

Yalmal has been visited by Europeans so seldom, and their 
observations are scattered in printed papers so inaccessible, that 
it may perhaps not be out of place here to collect the most 

1 These according to Dr. Kjellman's determination are : 



Saxifraga cernua L. 

„ CEespitosa L. 
Cochlearia fenestrata R. Br. 
Draba alpina L. 
Eanunculus sulphureiis SoL. 

,, nivalis L. 

,, pygmasus Wg. 

,, lapponicus L. 

,, borealis Trautv. 

Stellaria Edwardsii R. Br. 
Salix a:lauca L. 



Arctophila pendulina (L^ST.) And. 
Catabrosa algida (Sol.) Fr. 
„ concinna Tii. Fr. 
Dapontia Fislieri R. Br. 
Calamagrostis lapponica L. 
Carex salina Wg. 

„ rigid a Good. 
Eriophoruni russeolum Fe. 
Luzula arcuata Sm. f. hyperborea 

R. Br. 
Lloydia serotina (L.) Reichenb. 



156 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

important facts which are known regarding this peninsula, along 
with the necessary bibliographical references. 

First as to its name, it is sometimes also written " Yelmert 
Land," ^ but this is quite incorrect. 

" Yalmal " is of Samoyed origin, and has, according to a 
private communication from the well-known philologist Dr. E. 
D. EuKOPJEUS, the distinctive meaning " land's-end." Yelmert 
again was a boatswain with the Dutch whale-fisher Ylamingh, 
who in 1664 sailed round the northern extremity of Novaya 
Zemlya to Barents' winter haven, and thence farther to the 
south-east. Ylamingh himself at his turning-point saw no 
land, though all signs showed that land ought to be found in 
the neighbourhood ; but several of the crew thought they saw 
land, and the report of this to a Dutch mapmaker, Dl(3K 
Rembrantsz. van Nierop, led to the introduction of the supposed 
land into a great many maps, commonly as a large island in 
the Kara Sea. This island was named Yelmert Land. The 
similarity between the names Yelmert Land and Yalmal, and 
the doubt as to the existence of the Yelmert Island first shown 
on the maps, have led to the transfer of the name Yelmert 
Land to the peninsula which separates the Gulf of Obi from the 
Kara Sea. It is to be remarked, however, that the name 
Yalmal is not found in the older accounts of voyages from the 
European waters to the Obi. The first time I met with it 
was in the narrative of Skuratov's journey in 1737, as the 
designation of the most north-easterly promontory of the 
peninsula which now bears that name. 

Yalmal's grassy plains offer the Samoyeds during summer 
reindeer pastures which are highly valued, and the land is said 
to have a very numerous population in comparison with other 
regions along the shores of the Polar Sea, the greater portion, 
however, drawing southward towards winter with their large 
herds of reindeer. But the land is, notwithstanding this, among 
the most imperfectly known parts of the great Russian empire. 
Some information regarding it we may obtain from sketches of 
the following journeys : 

Selifontov, 1737. In the months of July and August the 
surveyor Selifontov travelled in a reindeer sledge along the 
coast of the Gulf of Obi as far as to Beli Ostrov. About this 
journey unfortunately nothing else has been published than is 
to be found in Litke, Vierinalige Keise, &c., Berlin, 1835, p. 66, 
and Weangel, Sibirische Beise, Berlin, 1839, p. 87. 

.^ On the maps in Linschoten's work already quoted, printed in 1601, 
and in Blavii Atlas Major (1665, t. i. pp. 24, 25), this land is called "Nieu 
West Vrieslant" and "West Frisia Nova," names which indeed have 
priority iii print, but yet cannot obtain a preference over the inhabitants' 
own beautiful name. 



IV.] VISITS TO YALMAL. 157 

SuJEFF, in 1771, travelled under the direction of Pallas over 
the southern part of Yalmal from Obdorsk to the Kara Sea, and 
gives an instructive account of observations made during his 
journey in Pallas, Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des 
rnssischen Belches, St. Petersburg, 1771 — 76, III. pp. 14 — 35. 

Krusenstern, 1862. During his second voyage in the Kara 
Sea, "which ended with the abandonment of the ship Yermak 
on the coast of Yalmal in about 69° 54' N. L., Krusenstern 
junior escaped with his crew to the shore, reaching it in 
a completely destitute condition. He had lost all, and would 
certainly have perished if he had not near the landing-place 
fallen in with a rich Samoyed, the owner of two thousand 
reindeer, who received the shipwrecked men in a very friendly 
way and conveyed them with his reindeer to Obdorsk, distant 
in a straight line 500, but, according to the Samoyed's reckoning, 
1,000 versts. In the sketch of Krusenstern's travels, to which 
I have had access, there is unfortunately no information regard- 
ing the tribe with which he came in contact during this 
remarkable journey,^ 

Waldbukg-Zeil and Finsch, 1876. A very full and exceed- 
ingly interesting description of the natural conditions in the 
southernmost part of the peninsula is to be found in the 
accounts of Count Waldburg-Zeil and Dr. Finsch' s journey 
in the year 1876.^ 

Schwanenberg, 1877. Captain Schwanenberg landed on the 
north part of Beli Ostrov during the remarkable voyage which 
he made in that year from the Yenisej to St. Petersburg, j^o 
traces of men, but some of reindeer and bears, were visible. 
The sea was sufficiently deep close to the shore for vessels of 
light draught, according to a private communication which I 
have received from Captain Schwanenberg. 

The Swedish Expedition, 1875. During this voyage we 
landed about the middle of the west coast of Yalmal. In order 
to give an idea of the nature of the country, I make the follow- 
ing extract from my narrative of the voyage,^ which has had but 
a limited circulation : 

" In the afternoon of the 8th August I landed, alons^ with 

1 Paul von Krusenstern, SJcizzen aus seinem Seemannsleben. Hirschberg 
in Silesia. Farther on I intend to give a more detailed account of von 
Krusenstern's two voyages in the Kara Sea. 

2 Deutsche Geogr. Blatter von Lindemann Namens d. Geogr. Gesellsch., 
Bremen. I. 1877, II. 1878. 0. Finsch, Reise nach West-Sihirien im Jahre 
1876. Berlin, 1879. A bibliographical list has been drawn up by Count 
von Waldburg-Zeil under the title, Litteratur-Nachweis filr das Gebiet des 
unteren Oh. 

3 Nordenskiold, Redogbrelse for en expedition till mynningen af Jenisej och 
Sibirien 'dr 1875, Bih. till Kongl. Vet.-Ak. Handl, vol. iv., No. i, p. 
38-42. 



153 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Luadstrom and Stuxberg, on a headland projecting a little from 
Yalmal, on the north side of the mouth of a pretty large^ river. 
The landing place was situated in lat. 72' 18', long. 68° 42'. The 
land was bounded here by a low beach, from which at a distance 
of one hundred paces a steep bank rose to a height of from six 
to thirty metres. Beyond this bank there is an extensive, 
slightly undulating plain, covered with a vegetation which indeed 
was exceedingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than 
that of Yaygats Island or Novaya Zemlya. The uniformity of 
the vegetation is perhaps caused, in a considerable degree, by 




PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL. 

After a drawing by A. N. Lundstrom. 

the uniform nature of the terrain. There is no solid rock here. 
The ground everywhere consists of sand and sandy clay, in which 
I could not find a stone so large as a bullet or even as a pea, 
though I searched for a distance of several kilometres along the 
strand-bank. Nor did the dredge bring up any stones from the 
sea-bottom off the coast, a circumstance which, among other 
things, is remarkable, because it appears to show that the strand- 
ice from the Obi and Yenisej does not drift down to and melt 
in this part of the Kara Sea. Nor do the sand beds contain any 
sub-fossil shells, as is the case with the sand beds of the Yenisej 



IV.] SACRIFICIAL PLACE ON YALMAL. 159 

tundra. ' Noah's wood ' also appears to be absent here. To 
judge from our observations at this place, the peninsula between 
the Gulf of Obi and the Kara Sea thus differs very essentially 
from the tundra lying east of the Yenisej. 

" We saw no inhabitants, but everywhere along the beach 
numerous traces of men — some of them barefoot — of reindeer, 
dogs and Samoyed sleighs, were visible. On the top of the 
strand-bank was found a place of sacrifice, consisting of forty- 
five bears' skulls of various ages placed in a heap, a large 
number of reindeer skulls, the lower jaw of a walrus, &c. From 
most of the bears' skulls the canine teeth were broken out, and 
the lower jaw was frequently entirely wanting. Some of the 
bones were overgrown with moss and lay sunk in the earth ; 
others had, as the adhering flesh showed, been placed there during 
the present year. In the middle of the heap of bones stood four 
erect pieces of wood. Two consisted of sticks a metre in length 
with notches cut in them, serving to bear up the reindeer and 
bears' skulls, which were partly placed on the points of the 
sticks or hung up by means of the notches, or spitted on the sticks 
by four-cornered holes cut in the skulls. The two others, which 
clearly were the proper idols of this place of sacrifice, consisted 
of driftwood roots, on which some carvings had been made to 
distinguish the eyes, mouth, and nose. The parts of the pieces 
of wood, intended to represent the eyes and mouth, had recently 
been besmeared with blood, and there still lay at the heap of 
bones the entrails of a newly-killed reindeer. Close beside were 
found the remains of a fireplace, and of a midden, consisting of 
reindeer bones of various kinds and the lower jaws of bears. 

"As the sandy slopes of the beach offered no suitable 
breeding-place for looms, black guillemots, or other sea-fowl, 
and there were no islands along the coast which could serve as 
breeding-places for eiders and other species of geese which 
breed in colonies, the abundant bird-life of the Polar Sea was 
wanting here. At the mouth of the river, however, large 
flocks of eiders and long-tailed ducks flew about, and on the 
sandy banks along the shore, flocks of Calidris arenaria and 
a Tringa or two ran about restlessly seeking their food. The 
solitude of the tundra was broken only by a couple of larks 
and a pair of falcons (Falco peregrines) with young. Traces 
of reindeer were also seen, and two fox-traps set on the strand- 
bank showed that foxes occur in these regions in sufiicient 
numbers to be the object of capture. 

" Later in the afternoon, when some solar altitudes had been 
taken, in order to determine the geographical position of the 
place, we rowed back to our vessel and sailed on, keeping at 
some distance from the coast, and at one place passing between 
the shore and a long series of blocks of ground-ice, which had 



IGO THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

stranded along the coast in a depth of nine to sixteen metres. 
During night we passed a place where five Samoyed tents were 
pitched, in whose neighbourhood a large number of reindeer 
pastured. The land was now quite low, and the sea had become 
considerably shallower. The course was therefore shaped for the 
N.W., in which direction deeper water was soon met with. 
Notwithstanding the slight salinity and high temperature 
(+ 7°'7) of the surface water a Clio borealis and a large number 
of Copepoda were taken at the surface." 

The excursion now described and Almquist's and Hovgaard's 
landing in 1878 were, as far as I am aware, the only occasions 
on which naturalists have visited the northern part of that 
peninsula which separates the Kara Sea from the Obi. The 
Norwegian hunters also visit the place seldom, the main reasons 
being the inaccessibility of the shallow east coast, and the w^ant 
of harbours. They now, however, land occasionally to take in 
water, and perhaps to barter the tobacco they have saved from 
their rations, knives they have no use for, and old-fashioned 
guns, gunpowder, lead, &c., for the products of the Samoyeds' 
reindeer husbandry, hunting and fishing. At first the natives 
fled when they saw the Norwegians coming, and, when they 
could not make their escape, they saluted them with great 
humility, falling on their knees and bending their heads to the 
earth, and were unwilling to enter into any traffic with them 
or to show them their goods. But since the Samoyeds observed 
that the Norwegians never did them any harm, the mistrust 
and excessive humility have completely disappeared. Now a 
visit of Europeans is very agreeable to them, partly for the 
opportunity which it otters of obtaining by barter certain 
articles of necessity, luxury, or show, partly perhaps also for 
the interruption thereby caused in the monotony of the tundra 
life. When the walrus-hunters row or sail along that open 
coast, it often happens that natives run backwards and forwards 
on the shore, and by signs eagerly invite the foreigners to land ; 
if they do so, and there are any wealthy Samoyeds in the 
neighbourhood, there immediately begins a grand entertainment, 
according to the customs of the people, with more than one 
trait reminding us of the sketches from the traditionary periods 
of the civilised nations. 

What I have stated here is about all that we know of Yalmal, 
and we see from this that a very promising, yet untouched field 
for researches in ethnography and natural history here lies 
before future travellers to the Yenisej. 

What sort of winter is there at the mouth of the Yenisej ? 
We have for the present no information on this point, as no scien- 
tific man has wintered there. But on the other hand we have a 



IV.] 



" JORDGAMMOR. 



161 



very exciting narrative of the wintering of the Fin, Nummelin, 
at the Briochov Islands in the Yenisej in lat. 70° 48' north. 

I visited the place on the 27th August 1875. It consisted 
of a fishing post, occupied only in summer, and at that season of 
the year very attractive, surrounded as it is by luxuriant 
vegetation of grass and bushes. The houses were situated on 
a sound running between the Briochov Islands, which form the 
northernmost group of the labyrinth of islands which occupy 
the channel of the Yenisej between 69|° and 71° N. L. At the 




" JORDGAMMOR " ON THE BRIOCHOV ISLANDS. 

After a sketch by the Author. 

time of our visit the fishing was over for the season and the 
place deserted. But two small houses and a number of earth- 
huts {jordgammof), all in good repair, stood on the river bank 
and gave evidence, along with a number of large boats drawn 
up on land, and wooden vessels intended for salting fish, of the 
industry which had been carried on there earlier in the summer. 
It was at this place that Nummelin passed one of the severest 
winters that Arctic literature has to record.^ 

1 I give the particulars of this wintering partly after communications 
made to me in conversation by Nummelin, partly after Goteiorgs Handels- 
och Sjofartstidning for the 20th and 21st November, 1877. This first and, 
as far as I know, only detailed narrative of the voyage in question, was 
dictated to the editor of that journal, reference being made to the log by 

M 



162 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

In 1876 M, Sidoroff, well known for the lively interest which 
he takes in navigation in the Siberian waters, had a ship Severnoe 
Sianie (the Juror a) built and fitted out at Yeniseisk, in order to 
carry goods from the Yenisej to Europe. The vessel was placed 
under the command of a Russian sea-captain, Schwanenberg. 
Under him Nummelin served as mate, and the vessel had a 
crew of eighteen men, most of whom had been exiled to Siberia for 
crime. In consequence of various mishaps the vessel could not 
get farther the first year than to the neighbourhood of the 
mouth of the Yenisej, where it was left in winter quarters 
at the place which has been named above. Nummelin and 
four exiles remained on board, while Schwanenberg and the 
rest of the crew returned to Yeniseisk on the 28th September. 
Frost had already comiuenced. During the two following weeks 
the temperature kept in the neighbourhood of the freezing 
point ; clear weather alternating with snow and rain. 

On the 5th of October the crew withdrew to their winter 
quarters, having previously collected driftwood and placed it 
in heaps in order that they might easily find it under the snow. 

On the 16th October the thermometer at eight o'clock in the 
morning showed — 4-5° and afterwards sank lower every day, until 
after the 21st October the mercury for some days was constantly 
under —10°. On the 26th October the temperature was —18°, 
but in the beginning of November it rose again to — 2°. On the 
6th November it sank again to — 17°, but rose on the 11th to 
— 3*5.° On the 14th November the thermometer showed —23"5°, 
on the 21st — 29*5°. Next day in the morning it stood at — 32°, 
and in the evening at — 37°, but these figures were arrived at 
hy guess, the instrument not indicating so low temperatures. 
This temperature of —30° to —32°, varying with frozen 
mercury, continued till the end of November, when it rose again 
to — 11*5°. At Christmas there was again a temperature of — 31° 
and the six following days the mercury was frozen, with which 
the new year came in. The temperature then rose again to — 20°, 
but soon sank so thab from the 16th January the mercury was 
frozen for five days. On the 22nd January the reading was — 9°. 
On the 26th the mercury froze again, and on the 29th the temper- 
ature was — 6°. During the month of February the temperature 
never rose above — 24°; the mercury was frozen on the 20th, 25th, 
26th, and 28th. This was the case on the Ist, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 
14th, 16th, and 18th March; on the 22nd March the reading 
was— 7°, on the 30th— 29°. April began with — 31°, but the 
temperature afterwards rose, so that on the 16th it reached - 11° 
and varied between ~ 21° and — 6° (the 25th). On the 2nd May the 
reading in the morning and evening was — 12°, at mid-day — 2° to 

Schwanenberg and Nummelin. Schwanenberg had come to Gothenburg 
some days before with his Yeniseisk-built vessel. 



IV.] NUMMELIN'S WINTERING. 163 

— 5°. On the 8th May it was + 0, on the 17th - 10-5°, on the 
31st + 0"5°. June began with + 1'5". On the 8th the reading 
at mid-day was + 11°, on the morning and evening of the same 
day + 2° to + 8°. During the remainder of June and the month 
of July the temperature varied between + 2° and -f- 21°. 

It was in such circumstances that Nummelin and his four 
companions Hved in the ill-provided house of planks on the 
Little Briochov Island. They removed to it, as has been already 
said, on the 5th October; on the 20th the ice was so hard frozen 
that they could walk upon it. On the 26th snowstorms 
commenced, so that it was impossible to go out of the house. 

The sun was visible for the last time on the 21st November, 
and it reappeared on the 19th January. On the 15th May the 
sun no longer set. The temperature was then under the 
freezing point of mercury. That the upper edge of the sun 
should be visible on the 19th January we must assume a hori- 
zontal refraction of nearly 1°. The islands on the Yenisej are 
so low that there was probably a pretty open horizon towards 
the south. 

Soon after Christmas scurvy began to show itself. Numme- 
lin's companions were condemned and punished criminals, in 
v/hom there was to be expected neither physical nor moral 
power of resistance to this disease. They all died, three of 
scurvy, and one in the attempt to cross from the Briochov 
Islands to a simovie at Tolstoinos. In their stead Nummelin 
succeeded in procuring two men from Tolstoinos, and later on 
one from Goltschicha. On the 11th May a relief party arrived 
from the south. It consisted of three men under the mate 
Meyenwaldt, whom Sidoroff had sent to help to save the vessel. 
They had first to shovel away the snow which weighed it down. 
The snow lay nearly six metres deep on the river ice, which 
was three metres thick. When they at last had got the vessel 
nearly dug out, it was buried again by a new snowstorm. 

In the middle of June the ice began to move, and the river 
water rose so high that Nummelin, Meyenwaldt, and four men, 
along with two dogs, were compelled to betake themselves to 
the roof of the hut, where they had laid in a small stock of 
provisions and fuel. Here they passed six days in constant 
peril of their lives. 

The river had now risen five metres ; the roof of the hut rose 
but a quarter of a metre above the surface of the swollen river, 
and was every instant in danger of being carried away by a 
floating piece of ice. In such a case a small boat tied to the 
roof was their only means of escape. 

The whole landscape was overflowed. The other houses and 
huts were carried away by the water and the drifting ice, which 
also constantly threatened the only remaining building. The 

M 2 



164 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

men on its roof were compelled to work night and day to keep 
the pieces of ice at a distance with poles. 

The great inundation had even taken the migrating birds at 
unawares. For long stretches there was not a dry spot for 
them to rest upon, and thus it happened that exhausted ptarmigan 
alighted among the men on the roof; once a ptarmigan settled 
on Meyenwaldt's head, and a pair on the dogs. 

On the 23rd June the water began to fall, and by the 25th it 
had sunk so low that Nummelin and his companions could leave 
the roof and remove to the deserted interior of the house. 

The narrative of Nummelin's return to Europe by sea, in 
company with Schwanenberg, belongs to a following chapter. 



CHAPTER V. 

The history of the North-East Passage from 1556 to 1878 — Burrough, 1556 
— Pet and Jackinan, 1580 — The first voyage of the Dutch, 1594 — Oliver 
Brunei — The second voyage, 1595 — The third voyage, 1596 — Hudson, 
1608 — Gourdon, 1611 — Bosnian, 1625 — De la Martini^re, 1653— 
Vlaniingh, 1664 — Suuhberger, 1675 — Roule reaches a land north of 
Novaya Zemlya — Wood and Flawes, 1676 -Discussion in England con- 
cerning the state of the ice in the Polar Sea — Views of the condition of 
the Polar Sea still divided — Payer and Weyprecht, 1872-74. 

The sea which washes the north coast of European Russia 
is named by King Alfred (Orosius, Book I. Chaps, i. ii.) the 
Quaen Sea (in Anglo-Saxon Oweoi Sae)^ a distinctive name, 
which unquestionably has the priority, and well deserves to be 
retained. To the inhabitants of Western Europe the islands, 
Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats, first became known through 
Stephen Burrough' s voyage of discovery in 15.56. Burrough 
therefore is often called the discoverer of Nov-aya Zemlya, but 
incorrectly. For when he came thither he found Russian 
vessels, manned by hunters well acquainted with the navigable 
waters and the land. It is clear from this that Novaya Zemlya 
had then already been known to the inhabitants of Northern 
Russia for such a length of time that a very actively prosecuted 
hunting could arise there. It is even probable that in the 
same way as the northernmost part of Norway Avas already 
known for a thousand years back, not only to wandering Lapps, 
but also to Norwegians and Quaens, the lands round Yugor 
Schar and Vaygats were known several centuries before Bur- 
rough's time, not only to the nomad Samoyeds on the main- 

^ In BosAvorth's translation this name is replaced by Wliite Sea, an un- 
necessary modernising of the name, and incorrect besides, as the White 
Sea is only a bay of the ocean which bounds Europe on the north. 



v.] THE MUSCOVY COMPANY. 165 

land, but also to various Beorma or Finnish tribes. Probably 
the Samoyeds then, as now, drove their reindeer herds up 
thither to pasture on the grassy plains along the coast of the 
Polar Sea, where they were less troubled by the mosquito and 
the reindeer fly than further to the south, and probably the wild 
nomads were accompanied then, as now, by merchants from the 
more civilised races settled in Northern Russia. The name 
Novaya Zemlya (New Land), indicates that it was discovered 
at a later period, probably by Russians, but we know neither 
when nor how.^ The narrative of Stephen Burrough's voyage, 
which, like so many others, has been preserved from oblivion 
by Hakluyt's famous collection, thus not only forms a sketch 
of the first expedition of West-Europeans to Novaya Zemlya, 
but is also the principal source of our knowledge of the earliest 
Russian voyages to these regions. I shall on this account go 
into greater detail in the case of this voyage than in those of 
the other voyages that will be referred to here. 

It is self-evident that the new important commercial treaties, 
to which Ohancelor's discovery of the route from England to 
the White Sea led, would be hailed with great delight both 
in England and in Russia, and would give occasion to a number 
of new undertakings. At first, as early as 1555, there was 
formed in England a company of " merchant adventurers of 
England for the discoverie of landes, territories, isles, dominions, 
and seigniories unknowen," commonly called '' the Muscovy 
Company," Sebastian Cabot, then almost an octogenarian, was 
appointed governor for the term of his natural life, and a 
number of privileges were conferred upon it by the rulers 
both of England and Russia. At the same time negotiators, 
merchants, and inquirers were sent by different ways from 
England to Russia in order to confirm the amity with that 
country, and more thoroughly examine the, at least to England, 
new world, which had now been discovered in the East, But a 
detailed account of these journeys does not enter into the plan 
of this work. 

With this, however, men were not content. They considered 
Chancelor's voyage as but the first step to something far more 
important, namely, the opening of the North-East Passage to 
China and India, While Chancelor himself the year after his 
return was sent along with several merchants to the White 

^ The Eussian chronicles state that the land between the Dwina and the 
Petchora (Savolotskaja Tchud) was made tributary under the Slavs in 
Novgorod during the first half of the ninth century, A monastery is 
spoken of in the beginning of the twelfth century at the mouth of the 
Dwina, whence we may conclude that the land was even then partly 
peopled by Piussians, but we want trustworthy information as to the time 
when the Russian-Finnish Arctic voyages began (compare F. Litke, Vier- 
malige Reise durch das nordliche Elsmeer. Berlin, 1835, p. 3). 



166 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Sea, a further attempt was planned to reach the east coast of 
Asia by the same route. A small vessel, the Searchthrift, was 
fitted out for this purpose and placed under the command of 
Stephen Burrough.^ The most important occurrences during 
the voyage were the following : — 

On the .,f •! f ''^.', 1556, the start was made from Ratcliffe to 

23rd April, ' 

Blackwall and Grays. Here Sebastian Cabot came on board, 
together with some distinguished gentlemen and ladies. They 
were first entertained on board the vessel and gave liberal 
presents to the sailors, alms being given at the same time to a 
number of poor people, in order that they might pray for good 
luck and a good voyage ; " then at the signe of the Christopher, 
Master Cabot and his friends banketted, and made them that 
were in the company great cheere ; and ,for very joy that he 
had to see the towardness of our intended discovery, he entered 
into the dance himselfe, amongst the rest of the young and 
lusty company." At Orwell Burrough left his own vessel, in 
order, at the wish of the merchants, to make the passage to 
Vardoehus in the Edward Bonccventure. In the end of May 
he was off the North Cape, which name Burrough says he 
gave to this northernmost headland of Europe during his 
first voyage.^ When Burrough left the Edward Bonaventure 
and went on board his own vessel is not stated, but on the ^-^ 
June he replied on the S&archthrift to the parting salute of 
the Edward Bonaventure. On the ~ June Kola was reached, 
and its latitude fixed at 65° 48'.3 

'■'On Thursday the ?^ June at 6 of the clocke in the morn- 
ing, there came aboord of vs one of the Russe Lodiaes, rowing 
with twentie oares, and there were foure and twentie men in 
her. The master of the boate presented me with a great loafe 
of bread, and six rings of bread, which they call Colaches, 
and foure dryed pikes, and a peck of fine otemeale, and I gave 

^ The voyage is described in Hahluyt, 1st Edition, p. 311. It is inserted 
in the list of contents in the following terms: "The voyage oF Steven 
Burrough towarde the river Ob, intending the discoverie of the north-east 
passage. Am 1556." It appears from the introduction to Hakluyt's work 
that the narrative was revised by Burrough himself. In the test Burrowe 
is written instead of Burrough. 

2 As I have already mentioned, von Herbertstein states that the Kussians 
(Istoma and others) as early as 1496 sailed round the northern extremity 
of Norway in boats, which when necessary could be carried over land. 

~ North Cape, or rather Nordkyn, was called at that time Murmanski Nos (the 
Norman Cape). When Hulsius in his collection of travels gives von 
Herbertstein's account of Istoma's voyage, he considers Swjatoi Nos on 
the Kola peninsula to be North Cape (Hamel, Tradescant, St. Petersburg, 
1847, p. 40). 

3 This must be a slip of the pen or an error of the press; it was probably 
intended to be 68° 48'. Kola lies in 68° 51' N. L. 



v.] BURROUGH'S VOYAGE, 1556. 1C7 

vjito the Master of the boate a combe, and a small giasse. He 
declared vnto me that he was bound to Pechora, and after that 
I made to drinke, the tide being somewhat broken, they gently 
departed. The Master's name was Pheother (Feodor). . . . 
Thursday (the |^ June) we weyed our ankers in the Kiuer Cola, 
and went into the Sea seuen or eight leagues, where we met 
with the winde farre Northerly, that of force it constrained vs 
to goe againe backe into the sayd riuer, where came aboord of 
vs sundry of their Boates, which declared unto me that they 
were also bound to the northwards, a fishing for Morse and 
Salmon, and gave me liberally of their white and wheaten bread. 

"As we roade in this riuer, wee saw dayly comming downe 
the riuer many of their Lodias, and they that had least, had 
foure and twentie men in them, and at the last they grew to 
thirtie saile of them ; and amongst the rest, there was one of 
them whose name was- Gabriel, who shewed me very much 
friendshippe, and he declared vnto mee that all they were 
bound to Pechora, a fishing for salmons, and morses : insomuch 
that hee shewed mee by demonstrations, that with a faire winde 
we had seuen or eight dayes sailing to the riuer Pechora, so 
that I was glad of their company. This Gabriel promised to 
giue mee warning of shoales, as he did indeede. . . . Sunday 
being the one and twentieth day [of June, 1st July new style], 
Gabriel gaue mee a barrell of Meade, and one of his speciall 
friends gaue me a barrell of beere, which was caryed upon 
mens backs at least 2 miles. 

" Munday we departed from the riuer Cola, with all the rest 
of the said Lodias, but sailing before the wind they were all 
too good for vs : ^ but according to promise, this Gabriel and his 
friend did often strike their sayles, and taryed for us forsaking 
their owne company. Tuesday at an Eastnortheast sunne we 
were thwart of Cape St. John.^ It is to be vnderstood, that 
from the Cape S. John vnto the riuer or bay that goeth to 
Mezen, it is all sunke land, aud full of shoales and dangers, 

^ This statement is very remarkable. For it shows that the vessels, 
that were then used by the Russians and Fins, were not very inferior as 
compared with those of the West-t]uropeans, which is confirmed by the 
fact, among others, that, nowhere in accounts of the voyages ot' the 
English or Dutch in former times to Novaya Zemlya, do we iind it stated 
tliat in respect to navigation they were very superior to the Kola men. 
As the Russian-Finnish lodjas of the time were probably beyond the 
influence of the shipbuilding art of Western Europe, it is of importance to 
collect all that is known about the way in which these vessels were built. 
Several drawings of them occur in the accounts of the Dutch voyages, but 
it is uncertain how far they are accurate. According to these the lodja 
was klinker-builtj with boards not riveted together but bound fast with 
willows, as is still occasionally practised in these regions. The form of 
the craft besides reminds us of that of the present walrus-hunting sloop. 

^ Cape Woronov, on the west side of the mouth of the river Mesen. 



168 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



you shall haue scant two fadome water and see no land. And 
this present day wee came to an anker thwart of a creeke, 
which is 4 or 5 leagues to the northwards of the sayd Cape, 
into which creeke Gabriel and his fellow rowed, but we could 
not get in : and before night there were aboue 20 saile that 
went into the sayd creeke, the wind being at the Northeast. 
We had indifferent good landfang. This afternoone Gabriel 
came aboord with his skiffe, and then I rewarded him for the 
good company that he kept with vs ouer the Shoales, with two 
small iuory combes, and a Steele glasse with two or three trifles 




RUSSIAN "LODJA.." 

After G. de Veer. 



more, for which he was not ungratefull. But notwithstand- 
ing, his first company had gotten further to the Northwards. 
Wednesday being Midsummer day we sent our skiffe aland to 
sound the creeke, where they found it almost drie at a low 
water. And all the Lodias within were on ground. (In con- 
sequence of the threatening appearance of the weather Bur- 
rough determined to go into the bay at high water. In 
doing so he ran aground, but got help from his Russian 
friends.) Gabriel came out with his skiffe, and so did sundry 
others also, shewing their good will to help us, but all to no 
purpose, for they were likely to have bene drowned for their 



v.] BUEROUGH'S VOYAGE, 1556. 1G9 

labour, in so much that I desired Gabriel to lend me his 
anker, because our owne ankers were too big for our skiffe 
to lay out, who sent me his owne, and borrowed another also 
and sent it vs." 

After much trouble Burrough succeeded in getting his vessel 
off the shoal, and then sought for a better anchorage on the 
other side of Cape St, John. 

" Friday {^^^~) at afternoone we weyed, and departed from 
thence, the wether being mostly faire, and the winde at East- 
southeast, and plied for the place where we left our cable and 
anker, and our hawser, and as soone as we were at an anker the 
foresaid Gabriel came aboord of vs, with 8 or foure more of 
their small boats, and brought with them of their Aquauita^ 
and Meade, professing unto me very much friendship, and 
reioiced to see vs againe, declaring that they earnestly thought 
that we had bene lost. This Gabriel declared vnto me that 
they had saued both the ankers and our hauser, and after we 
had thus communed, I caused 4 or 5 of them to goe into 
my cabbin, where I gaue them figs and made them such cheere 
as I could. While I was banketing of them, there came 
another of their Skiffes aboord with one who was a Kerill 
(Karelian), whose name afterwards I learned, and that he 
dwelt in Colmogro, and Gabriel dwelled in the towne of Cola, 
which is not far from the river's mouth. This foresaid Keril 
said vnto me that one of the ankers which I borrowed was his. 
I gave him thanks for the lone of it, thinking it had bene 
sufficient. And as I continued in our accustomed maner, that 
if the present which they brought were worth enterteinment, 
they had it accordingly, he brought nothing with him, and 
therfore I regarded him but litle. And thus we ended, and 
they took their leaue and went ashore. At their comming 
ashore, Gabriel and Keril were at vnconvenient words, and by 
the eares, as I vnderstand ; the cause was because the one had 
better enterteinment than the other; but you shal vnderstand 
that Gabriel was not able to make his party good, because 
there were 17 lodias of the Keril's company who tooke 
his part, and but 2 of Gabriel's company. The next high 
water Gabriel and his company departed from thence, and 
rowed to their former company and neighbours, which were 
in number 28 at the least, and all of them belonging 
to the river Cola. And as I vnderstood Keril made reckoning 
that the hauser which was fast in his anker should have bene 
his owne, and at first would not deliver it to our boat, insomuch 
that I sent him worde that I would complain vpon him, where- 
upon he deliuered the hauser to my company. The next day 



170 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

being Saturday, I sent our boat on shore to fetch fresh water 
and wood, and at their comming on shore this Keril welcomed 
our men most gently, and also banketed them, and in the 
meanetime caused some of his men to fill our baricoes with 
water, and to help our men to beare wood into their boat ; and 
then he put on his best silke coate, and his collar of pearles 
and came aboorde againe, and brought his present with him : 
and thus having more respect vnto his present than to his 
person, because I perceiued him to be vain-glorious, I bade 
him welcome and gaue him a dish of figs ; and then he 
declared vnto me that his father was a gentleman, and that he 
was able to shew me pleasure, and not Gabriel, who was but a 
priest's sonne. " 

After Burrough has given account of a storm, during which 
he lost a jolly boat, which he had purchased at Vardoehus, and 
by which they were detained some time in the neighbourhood 
of Cape St. John (whose latitude was fixed at 66° 50') he 
continues : — • 

"Saturday (the ^4 th July) at a Northnorthwest sunne the 
wind came at Eastnortheast, and then we weied, and plied to 
the Northwards, and as we were two leagues shot past the 
Cape, we saw a house standing in a valle}^ which is dainty to 
be scene in those parts and by and by I saw three men on the 
top of the hil. Then I iudged them, as it afterwards proued, 
that they were men which came from some other place to set 
traps to take vermin ^ for their furres, which trappes we did 
perceiue very thicke alongst the shore as we went." 

The 14th to the 19th July, new style, were passed on the 
coast of Kanin Nos.^ On the 19th at noon Burrough was in 
lat. 68° 40' north. On Friday, the ^"th July another storm 
appeared to threaten. 

" And as I was musing what was best to be done, I saw a sail 
come out of a creeke under the foresayd Caninoz, which v/as 
my friend Gabriel, who forsook his harborough and company, 
and came as neere us as he might, and pointed vs to the 
Eastwards, and then we weyed and followed him. Saturday we 
went eastsoutheast and followed Gabriel, and he brought vs 
into an harborough called Morgiouets, which is SO leagues 
from Caninoz. This morning Gabriel saw a smoke on ye way, 
who rowed vnto it with his skiffe, which smoke was two leagues 

^ Probably mountain foxes. Eernains of these fox-traps are still 
frequently met with along the coast of the Polar Sea^ where the Russians 
have carried on hunting. 

2 Kanin Nos is in 68° 30' N. L. 



v.] BUEROUGH'S VOYAGE, 1556. 171 

from the place where we road ; and at a Northwest sunne 
he came aboord again, and brought with him a Samoed,^ which 
was but a young man ; his apparell was then strange vnto vs, 
and he presented me with three young wild geese, and one 
young barnacle." 

On the ij^ July Burrough sailed past Dolgoi Island, and the 
following day entered the mouth of the Petchora, the latitude 
of which was fixed at 69° 10'.' On the ^ they sailed out 
again over sandbanks in only five feet of water, and thanked 
God that their vessel was of so light draught. The day after 
ice was met with for the first time. On the *^4^ in lat, 

btli July 

70° 20' north, they had the meeting already described with an 
enormous whale.* Somewhat later on the same day the 
Searchthrift anchored in a good haven between two islands, 
situated in 70° 42' N. L.^ They were named by Burrough 
St. James's Islands. 

" Tuesday, the 28th jufy we plyed to the Westwards alongst 
the shoare, the wind being at JNorthwest, and as I was about 
to come to anker, we saw a sail comming about the point 
whereunder we thought to have ankered. Then I sent a skiffe 
aboorde of him, and at their comming aboord, they tooke 
acquaintance of them, and the chiefe man said hee had bene 
in our company in the riuer Cola, and also declared vnto them 
that we were past the way which should bring vs to the Ob. 
This land, sayd he, is called Nova Zembla, that is to say, the 
New Land ; and then he came aboord himselfe with his skiffe he 
told me the like ... he made me also certaine demonstrations 
of the way to the Ob. I gave him a Steele glasse, two pewter 
spoons, and a paire of veluet sheathed knives ; and then he 
seemed somewhat the more willing to tary and shewed me as 
much as he knew for our purpose ; he also gave me 17 
wild geese. . . . This man's name was Loshak. Wednes- 
day, as we plied to Eastwards, we espied another saile, which 
was one of this Loshak's company, and we bare roome and 
spake with him, who in like sort tolde us of the Ob, as the other 
had done. . . . Friday (the '^i7^"y) the gale of winde began to 
ncrease, and came Westerly withall, so that by a Northwest 
surme we were at an anker among the Islands of Waigats, 
where we saw two small lodias ; the one of them came aboord 
of us and presented me with a great loafe of bread ; and they told 

1 This was the first meeting between West-Europeans and Samoyeds. 
^ The capes which bound the mouth of the Petchora — Cape Ruski 
Savorot and Cape Medinski Savorot, — are very nearly in lat. 69°. 
■^ See above, page 129. 
* Evidently islands near the southern extremity of Novaya Zemlya. 



172 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

me they were all of Colmogro, except one man that dwelt at 
Pechora, who seemed to be the chiefest among them in killing 
of the Morse.^ There were some of their company on shoare 
which did chase a white beare ouer the high clifs into the 
water, which beare the lodia that was aboord of us killed in 
our sight. This day there was a great gale of wind at North, 
and we saw so much ice driving a seaboord that it was then no 
going to sea." 

During the first days of August the vessel lay for the most 
part in company with or in the neighbourhood of Loshak, 
who gave them information about the Samoyeds, after which 
Burrough visited their sacrificial places.^ 

" Tuesday (the "th) August we turned for the harborough 
where Loshak's barke lay,^ where, as before, we road vnder an 
Island. And there he came aboord of vs and said unto me : if 
God send wind and weather to serve, I will go to the Ob with 
you, because the Morses were scant at these Islands of Vaigats ; 
but if he could not get to the riuer of Ob, then he sayd hee 
would goe to the riuer of Narainzay,* where the people were not 
altogether so savage as the Samoyds of the Ob are : hee 
shewed me that they will shoot at all men to the vttermost of 
their power, that cannot speake their speech." 

On the ^th of Auojust much ice was seen to drift towards the 

5 O 

haven where the vessel lay, wherefore Burrough removed back 
to the place where he had lain a few days before, and whose 
latitude he now found to be 70° 25'. Loshak left him unex- 
pectedly the following day, while Burrough was taking solar 
altitudes, and on the ~th Burrough too weighed anchor to sail 
south along the coast of Vaygats. After sailing about in these 
waters for a time, and being exposed to a severe storm with an 
exceedingly heavy sea, Burrough, on the ^^" , determined to 
turn. On the ^t"h September he arrived at Colmogro, where 
he wintered with a view to continue his voyage next year to 
the Obi. This voyage, however, was abandoned, because he 
instead went westwards in order to search for two of the ships 

^ Probably he was of Finnish race. The Quaens in North Norway are 
still the most skilful harpooners. In recent times they have found rivals 
in skill with the harpoon and gun in the Lapps. 

^ The information Burrough obtained regarding the Samoyeds is given 
above at page 80. 

* Prom the context, and the circumstance that "much ice was drifting 
in the sea," we may conclude that this haven was situated on the north 
side of the island at the entrance to the Kara Port. 

^ Probably the river which on Massa's map is called Narontza, and 
debouches on the west coast of Yalmal. 



y.] BUEEOUGH'S VOYAGE, 155G. 173 

which accompanied Chancelor, and which had been lost during 
the return voyage from Archangel.-^ 

From this narrative we see that a highly developed Eussian 
or Russian-Finnish navigation was carried on as early as the 
middle of the fifteenth century between the White Sea, the 
Petchora, Vaygats, and Novaya Zemlya, and that at that time the 
Russians or Finns even sailed to the Obi. The sketch, which 
Burrough gives of the Russian or Russian-Finnish hunters, 
shows, besides, that they were brave and skilful seamen, with 
vessels which for the time were very good, and even superior to 
the English in sailing before the wind. With very few alter- 
ations this sketch might also be applied to the present state of 
things in these regions, which shows that they continue to stand 
at a point which was then high, but is now low. Taking a 
general view of matters, it appears as if these lands had rather 
fallen behind than advanced in well-being during the last 
three hundred years. 

To judge by a letter from the Russian Merchant Company, 
which was formed in London, it was at his own instance that 
Stephen Burrough in 1557 sailed from Colmogro, not to Obi, 

1 All the three vessels that were employed in the first English expedition 
to the North-east had an unfortunate fate, viz. : 

The Edward Bonaventure^ commanded by Chancelor and Burrough, 
sailed in 1553 from England to the White Sea, returned to England in 
1554 and was on the way plundered by the Dutch {Purchas, iii. p. 250) ; 
started again with Chancelor for the Dwina in 1555, and returned the same 
year to England under Captain John Buckland ; accompanied Burrough in 
1556 to the Kola peninsula; went thence to the Dwina to convey to England 
Chancelor and a Eussian embassy, consisting of the ambassador Ossip 
Gregorjevitsch Nepeja and a suite of sixteen men ; the vessel besides being- 
laden with goods to the value of 20,000Z. It was wrecked in the neigh- 
bourhood of Aberdeen (Aberdour Bay) on the 20th (10th) November. 
Chancelor himself, his wife, and seven Eussians were drowned, and most 
of the cargo lost. 

The Bona Esperanza, admiral of the fleet during the expedition of 1553. 
Its commander and whole crew perished, as has been already stated, of 
disease at Arzina on the coast of Kola in the beginning of 1654. The 
vessel was saved and was to have been used in 1556 to carry to England 
the Eussian embassy already mentioned. After having been driven by a 
storm into the North Sea, it reached a harbour in the neighbourhood of 
Trondhjem, but after leaving that harbour disappeared completely, nothing 
being known of its fate. 

The Bona Confidentia was saved like the Bona Esjjeranza after the dis- 
astrous wintering at Arzina ; was also used in conveying the Eussian 
embassy from Archangel in 1556, but stranded on the Norwegian coast, 
every man on board perishing and the whole cargo being lost. 

Of the four vessels that left the Dwina on the 2nd August, 1556, only 
the Philip and Mary succeeded, after wintering at Trondhjem, in reaching 
the Thames on the 28th (18th) April, 1557. (A letter of Master Henrie 
Lane to the worshipfuU Master William Sanderson, containing a brief 
discourse of that Avhich passed in the north-east discoverie, for the space 
of three and thirtie yeeres, Purchas, iii. p. 249.) 



174 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. 

but to the coast of Russian Lapland to search for the lost 
vessels.^ The following year the English were so occupied with 
their new commercial treaties with Russia and with the fitting 
out of Frobisher's three expeditions to the north-west, that it 
was long before a new attempt was made in the direction of the 
north-east, namely till Arthue Pets' voyage in 1580.^ He was 
the first who penetrated from Western Europe into the Kara 
Sea, and thus brought the solution of the problem of the 
North-East Passage to the Pacific a good way forward. The 
principal incidents of this voyage too must therefore be briefly 
stated here. 

Pet and Jackman, the former in the George, the latter in the 
William, sailed from Harwich on the g^^^, 1580. On the 
22nd ju'Je they doubled the North Cape, and on the ^|^ July, Pet 
was separated from Jackman after appointing to meet with him 
at "Verove Ostrove or Waygats." On the ^^th land was in 
sight, the latitude having the preceding day been ascertained 
to be 71° 38', Pet was thus at Gooseland, on the west coast 
of Novaya Zemlya. He now sailed E.S.E., and fell in with ice 
on the ^th July. On the j?th July, land was seen, and the 
vessel anchored at an island, probably one of the many small 
islands in the Kara Port, where wood and water were taken 
on board. 

On the ^-^th July, Pet was in the neighbourhood of land in 
70° 26'. At first he thought that the land was an island, and 
endeavoured to sail round it, but as he did not succeed in doing 
so, he supposed it to be Novaya Zemlya. Hence he sailed in 
different directions between S.W. and S.E., and was on the 
^-^th in 69° 40' N.L. Next day there was lightning with showers 
of rain. Pet believed himself now to be in Petehora Bay, and 
after sighting, on the j^th July, the headland which bounds the 
mouth of the river on the north-east, he sailed, it would seem, 
between this headland and the Selenetz Islands into the great 
bay east of Medinski Savorot. Here he made soundings on 
the supposition that the sound between Vaygats Island and the 

1 Hamel, Tradescant der dltere, p. 106. Hakluyt, 1st Edition, p. 326. 
The voiage of the foresaid M. Stephen Burrough An. 1557 fro7n Colmogro to 
Wordhouse, <&c. This voyage of Burrough has attracted little attention ; 
from it however we learn that the Dutch even at that time carried on an 
extensive commerce with Russian Lapland. In the same narrative there 
is also a list of words with statements of prices and suitable goods for 
trade with the inhabitants of the Kola peninsula. 

2 Two accounts of this voyage are to be found in Hakluyt's collection 
(pp. 466 and 476). A copy of Pet's own journal was discovered some 
years ago, along with other books, frozen in among the remains of 
Barents' wintering on the north-east side of Novaya Zemlya, It has not 
been published, but is in the possession of Consul Rein at Hammerfest, 



v.] PET'S AND JACKMAN'S VOYAGE, 1580. 175 

mainJand would open out at this place, but the water was found 
to be too shallow, even for a boat. Pet now sailed past Yugor 
Schar along the coast of Yaygats towards Novaya Zemlya, 
to a bay on the west coast of Vaygats Island, where he anchored 
between two small islands, which were supposed to be Woronski 
Ostrov. The entrance to an excellent haven was indicated on hoth 
sides hy two crosses} On the islands there was abundance of 
driftwood, and on one of them w^as found a cross, at the foot 
of which a man was buried. Pet inscribed his name on the 
cross, and likewise on a stone at the foot of the cross, "in order 
that Jackman, if he came thither, might know that Pet had 
been there." In the afternoon Pet again weighed anchor, 
doubled the western extremity of Vaygats Island, and con- 
tinued his voyage, following all along the coast of Vaygats, 
first to the north and north-east, then to the south, between 
an ice-field and the land, until the ice came so close to the 
shore that the vessel could make no headway, when he anchored 
in a good haven by an island which lay on the east side of 
Vaygats in the neighbourhood of the mainland. It was per- 
haps the island which in recent maps is called Mestni Island. 
Pet was thus now in the Kara Sea.^ The latitude given — 
69° 14' — shows even, if it is correct, that he went far into the 
bay at the mouth of the Kara river. Here Pet fell in with his 
comrade Jackman, from whom he had parted on the coast of 
Kola, and of whose voyage during the interval we know nothing. 
When the vessels met they w^ere both damaged by ice. As, 
in addition, the sea to the north and east was barred by compact 
masses of ice, the captains, after deliberating with the inferior 
ofiicers, determined to return. They had, also, during the 
return voyage, to contend with formidable ice obstacles, until, 
on the |th August, in Lat. 69° 49' north, near the south- 
eastern extremity of Vaygats they met with open water. They 
sailed along the east coast of Vaygats through the Kara Port, 
which was passed on the ph August, Hence the course was 
shaped for Kolgujev Island, on whose sandbanks both vessels 



1 The Russians had thus landmarks on Novaya Zemlya 300 years ago. 

2 It is commonly assumed that Pet sailed into the Kara Sea through 
Yng-or Schar, but that this was not the case is shown partly by the fact 
that he never speaks of sailing through a long and narrow sound, partly 
by the account of the many islands which he saw in his voyage, and partly 
by the statement that coming from the south he sailed round the western- 
most promontory of Vaygats Island. If we except small rocks near the 
shore, there are no islands off the southern part of Vaygats Island. In 
sailing east of Medinski Savorot, Pet took the land south of Yugor 
Schar for Vaygats, and the soundings on the 29th (19th) July were 
carried out undoubtedly in the mouth of some small river debouching 
there. 



176 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

ran aground, but were soon got off again without loss. The 
latitude of the sandbanks was correctly fixed at 68° 48'. 

On the i^/!"^- the William was again lost sisrht of.^ On the 

22na Aug. '--' O 

^mhZx£ the George anchored in Tana Fiord, on which there was 
a town named Hungon.^ Two days afterwards the George 
doubled the North Cape, and on the ^—^^ again anchored 
at Ratcliffe. 

Pet and Jackman were the first north-east explorers who 
ventured themselves in earnest amongst the drift-ice. In 
navigating among ice they showed good judgment and readiness 
of resource, and in the history of navigation the honour falls 
to them of having commanded the first vessels from Western 
Europe that forced their way into the Kara Sea. It is there- 
fore Avithout justification that Barrow says of them that they 
were but indifferent navigators.^ 

With Pet and Jackman's voyage the English North-East 
Passage expeditions were broken otf for a long time. But the 
problem was, instead, taken up with great zeal in Holland. 
Through the fortunate issue of the war of freedom with Spain, 
and the incitement to enterprise which civil freedom always 
brings along with it, Holland, already a great industrial and 
commercial state, had begun, towards the close of the sixteenth 
century, to develop into a maritime power of the first rank. 
But navigation to India and China was then rendered impossible 
for the Dutch, as for the English, by the supremacy of Spain 
and Portugal at sea, and through the endeavours of these 
countries to retain the sole right to the commercial routes they 
had discovered. In order to become sharers in the great profits 
which commerce with the land of silks and perfumes brought 
with it, it therefore appeared to be indispensable to discover 

1 Of Jackman Haklnyt says (2nd Edition, i. p. 453) : " William with 
Charles Jackman came to a haven in Norway between Tronden and 
Rostock in October, 1580, and wintered there. Thence the following 
Febrviary he went with a vessel, belonging to the king of Denmark, to 
Iceland, and since then nothing has been heard of him." Abont that time 
an English ship stranded at the Ob, and the crew were killed by the 
Samoyeds. It has been conjectured that it possibly was Jackman (compare 
Purchas, iii. p. 546; Hamel, p. 238). It is more probable that the 
vessel which suffered this fate was that which, two years before Pet and 
Jackman's voyage, appears to have been sent out by the Muscovy Com- 
pany to penetrate eastwards from the Petchora. The members of this 
expedition were James Bassendine, James Woodcocke, and Richard 
BrOAvn, but we know nothing concerning it except the very sensible 
and judicious rules that were drawn up for the expedition {Halduyt, 1st 
Edition, p. 406). 

2 I have not been able to find any name resembling this on modern 
maps. 

* A Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions. London, 
1818, p. 99. 



v.] 



THE DUTCH NORTH-EAST EXPEDITIONS. 



177 



Nj^akchvs 

HoLLAKDVi' 



a new sea route north of Asia or America to the Eastern seas. 
If such a route had been actually found, it was clear that the 
position of Holland would have been specially favourable for 
undertaking this lucrative trade. In this state of things we 
have to seek for the reason of the delight with which the Dutch 
hailed the first proposal to force a passage by sea north of Asia 
to China or Japan. Three successive expeditions were at great 
expense fitted out for this purpose. These expeditions did 
not, indeed, attain the intended goal — the discovery of a 
north-eastern sea route to Eastern Asia, but they not only 
gained for themselves a prominent 
place in the history of geographical 
discovery, but also repaid a hundred 
fold the money that had been spent 
on them, in part directly through 
the whale-fishing to which they 
gave rise, and which was so profit- 
able to Holland, and in part in- 
directly through the elevation they 
gave to th& self-respect and national 
feeling of the people. They com- 
pared the achievements of their 
countrymen among the ice and 
snow of the Polar lands to the voy- 
age of the Argonauts, to Hannibal's 
passage of the Alps, and to the 
campaign of the Macedonians in 
Asia and the deserts of Libya 
(see, for instance, Blavius, Atlas 
major, Latin edition, t. i., pp. 24 
and 81.) As these voyages 
together present the grandest 
attempts to solve the problem 
that lay before the Vega expedi- 
tion, I shall here give a some- 
what detailed account of them. 

The First Dutch Expedition, 1594. — This was fitted out 
at the expense of private persons, mainly by the merchants 
Balthasar Mucheron, Jacob Valcke, and Francisgus 
Maelson. The first intention was to send out only two 
vessels with the view of forcing a passage through the sound 
at Vaygats towards the east, but on the famous geographer 
Plancius representing that the route north of Novaya Zemlya 
was that which would lead most certainly to the desired goal, 
other two were fitted out, so that no fewer than four vessels 
went out in the year 1,594 on an exploratory expedition towards 
the north. Of these, two, viz. a large vessel, specially equipped, 

N 




DUTCH SKIPPER. 

After G. de Veer. 



178 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

it would appear, for the northern waters, called the Mercurius, 
and comiianded by Willem Barents,^ and a common fishing 
sloop, attempted the way past the northern extremity of Novaya 
Zemlya. The two others, viz. the Swan of Zeeland, com- 
manded by CoRNELls CoRNELisz. Nay, and the Mercurius 
of Enkhuizen, commanded by Brandt Ysbrandtsz. Tetgales, 
were to pass through the sound at Vaygats Island. 

All the four vessels left the Texel on the ^^th June, and 
eighteen days later arrived at Kilduin in Eussian Lapland, 
a place where at that time vessels, bound for the White 
Sea, often called. Here the two divisions of the expedition 
parted comjDany. 

Barents sailed to Novaya Zemlya, which was reached on the 
jth July in 73° 25'; the latitude was determined by measuring 
the altitude of the midnight sun at an island which was called 
Willem's Island. Barents sailed on along the coast in a 
northerly direction, and two days afterwards reached the 
latitude of 75° 54' north. On the "th July there was a re- 
markable chase of a Polar bear. The bear was fallen in with 
on land and was pierced by a bullet, but notwithstanding this 
he threw himself into the water, and swam with a vigour 
" that surpassed all that had been heard of the lion or other 
wild animal." Some of the crew pursued him in a boat, and 
succeeded in casting a noose round his neck in order to catch 
him living, with a view to carry him to Holland. But when 
the bear knew that he was caught " he roared and threw him- 
self about so violently that it can scarcely be described in 
words." In order to tire him they gave him a little longer line, 
rowing forward slowly the while, and Barents at intervals struck 
him with a rope. Enraged at this treatment, the bear swam to 
the boat, and caught it with one of his forepaws, on which 
Barents said : " he wishes to rest himself a little." But the 
bear had another object in view, for he cast himself into the 
boat with such violence that half his 'body was soon within it. 
The sailors were so frightened that they rushed to the fore and 
thought that their last hour was come. Fortunately the bear 
could make no further advance, because the noOse that was 

1 His proper name was Willem Barentszoon ; it was also written Barentz, 
Barendsz, Bernardsson, &c. Barents' three voyages formed the subject of 
a work by Gerrit de Veer, which was published for the first time in 1598 
at Amsterdam in a Dutch, a Latin, and a French edition. The last- 
mentioned has the following title : Vray Description de Trois Voyages des 
Mer ires admirahles faicis . . . par les navires d'Hollande & Zelande 
au nord . -. . vers les Eoi/aumes de China & Catay, etc. Afterwards 
this work was frequently reprinted in different languages, both singly and 
in DE Bry's, Purchas', and other collections of Travels. See on tins point 
P. A. Tiele, Memoire bibliographiqiie sur les journaux des navigateurs Neer- 
landais. Amsterdam, 1867. 



v.] 



CHASE OF A POLAR BEAR. 



179 



thrown round his neck had fastened in the rudder. A sailor 
taking courage, now went aft and killed the bear with the stroke 
of an axe. The skin was sent to Amsterdam. On account of 
this occurrence the place was called " Bear Cape." 

Barents sailed on towards the north and north-east, past the 
place which he called Cruys Eylandt (Cross Island) ^ and Cape 
Nassau, a name which has been retained in recent maps, to the 
latitude of 77° 55', which was reached on the |^ July. Here 
from the mast-top an ice-field was seen, which it was impossible 
to see beyond, which compelled Barents to turn. However, he 
still remained in these northern regions, waiting for a better 
state of the ice, till the ^ fJ^^T > ^^^^^n the vessel was due west 




CAPTURE OF A POLAR BEAR. 

After G. de Veer. 



of a promontory situated in latitude 77° north, which was 
named Ice Cape. Some gold-glittering stones were found here 
on the ground. Such finds have played a not inconsiderable 
rSle in the history of Arctic voyages, and shiploads of worthless 
ore have on several occasions been brought home. On the 
lot h Auj;u..t ^^]^[\q sailing among the Orange Islands, they saw 200 

31st July ' do O > J 

walruses on land. The sailors attacked them with axes and 
lances, without killing a single walrus, but they succeeded 
during the attempt to kill them in striking out several tusks, 
which they carried home with them. 

Convinced that he could not reach the intended goal by this 

^ From two large crosses which were found erected on the island. This 
shows that the Russians had also explored the north part of Novaya 
Zemlya before the West-Europeans. 

N 2 



180 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [(uur. 

northern route, Barents detonuined, after consulting witli his 
men, to turn south and sail to Va.ygats. While saihng down, 
Barents, m latitude 71° north, makes the remark that he was 
now probably at a place where Oliver Brunel ^ had been 
before, and which had been named by him Costinsark, evidently 
the present Kostin Scliar, a Russian name still in use for the 
sound which separates Meschduschar Island from the main 
island. It ought to be observed, however, that on old maps 

' The iiamoOlivor nniuol occurs so oL'teu in accounts of the iirst voyages 
to Novaya Zouilya, and t-ho man wlio horo it ap[)ears to have exercised so 
groat an inllneuco oti the devolopuient oL' comuicrcial conunuuications with 
i^ussia, and the sondiug out of exploratory ex|)cditions to the North Polar 
Sim, that I shall give a brioL' sketch of liis life, mainly after S. MuUcr, 
Getichiedenis der Noordfsche Coinpagnte, Utrecht, 1874, p. 20. 

Oliver Brunei was born in Brussels, aud in 15G5 went in a Russian 
vessel from Kola to Kohuogor in order to learn the Russian language and 
make himself acquainted with the trade of the region. But the English, 
wiu) of course eagerly endeavoured to prevent any intru.sion on their 
newly-discovered conuuercial territory, ]u-evailed on the Ivussiaus to keep 
him in prison for several years. In the end he was set at liberty, or rather 
handed over to the rich merchants Jakov and Grigory Anikiev(Stroganov). 
In consocpieiu-e of tliis, Brunei came to take part in the commercial 
ox|)editions sent out by tiiis uun'cantilo house, (which by the conquest of 
Sibcuia accpiired a world-historical im|)ortance, both by land and sea,) to 
the parts of Asia bordering on Russia, whereby he became well' acquainted 
witli the Polar Sea and the Gulf of Obi. Brunei afterwards brought about 
direct conununicatiou between the Netherlands and tlie great conuuercial 
house, ahuost sovereign de facto if not dejure in extensive countries. In 
connection with this Brunei made stremious exertions to open in earnestthe 
navigation of the Netherlands to tlie White Sea, and there found a 
Nctiuirlands factory, which was placed not ou Rosen Island, which was 
occupied by the English, but on the spot where the present Archangel is 
situated. Brunei next took part in }u-eparations for a Russian N(»rtli-east 
ex[)odition, for which Swedish siiipbuilders were received iut(> Stroganov's 
service. Briuuil himsel I! travelled by land to Holland to enlist men. A 
number of iiarticulars regarding these niulertakiugs ot" Brunei are con- 
taiiu>d in a letter of John B.\i,.\k to (iKKAitn IMkkcWtou, dated "Arusburgi 
ad Ossellam lluvium" the 'JOth February, 1.581. The letter is printed in 
the second edition of Ilahiuyt, 1.598, i. p. 509. Scarcely however had 
Brunei returned to his native country, before he altered his plan and 
wished to i>rocure fcu' his own fatherland the honour aud advantage of the 
imdertaking. The tirst attempt of the Dutch to reach China aud Japan by 
the north-east thus came about. Of this voyage we know only that Brunei 
endeavoured without success to sail through Yugor Schar, and that his 
vessel, heavily laden with furs, plates of mica., and rock-crystal, was 
wrecked on the way home at the mouth of the Petchora, {BescJiri/vhighe 
vaiider Sunioi/edcii Landt. in Tarldnrii, cfr. Amsterdam, 1612. S. Muller's 
Photolithographic Reproduction, 1878). The mica and rock-crystal were 
undoubtedly brought I'rtnn the Ural, as no useful plates of nn'ca or large 
rock-crystals are i'ouTid in the region of the Petchora. Brunei then entered 
the ]')aiiish service. For we kiu)w that an Oliver Brunei during tlio reign 
of King Fre(b-ik II. in Demnark offered ti) exphn-e Greeidand, and for that 
purpose in 158.'? obtaiiuid the right to settle in Bergen and there enjoy six 
years frcM^dom from taxes (Of. Groenlamls historiske Miiulcsinccrker, Copen- 
hagen, 18i38, vol. iii. p. 060). 



Cdcrte ^d-n^'tr Hoordcrftc- \us.?orL, Sam.o/ed^v\ atde Hliv^ocjavLandt : d^ooda±vmjdcKmsuvafiy/7cte.k£Tii:,^d<x,rhaa£Massiivcrtadiis. 




RUSSIAN MAP OF THE NORTH POLAR SEA FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE I7th CENTURY, PUBLISHED in HOLLAND IN 1612 BY ISAAC MASSA 



Si 






k 



v.] JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN. 181 

Matotschkin Schar is often marked with some perversion of the 
word Kostin Schar. 

South of " St. Laurens Bay/' ^ in 70f, Barents, on the '^^ 
August, found upon a headland a cross erected, and in the neigh- 
bourhood of it three wooden buildings, the hull of a Russian 
vessel and several sacks of meal, and at the same place some 
graves, all clearly remains of some Russian salmon-fishers. On 
the fjth August he arrived at Dolgoi Island, where he fell in 
with the two other vessels from Zeeland and Enkhuizen that 
had come thither shortly before. All the four vessels sailed 
back thence to Holland, arriving there in the middle of 
September. The narrative of this voyage closes with the 
statement that Barents brought home with hnn a walrus, which 
had been fallen in with and killed on the drift-ice. Barents 
during this journey discovered and explored the northern part of 
Novaya Zemlya, never before visited by West-European seafarers. 
The two other vessels, that left the Texel at the same time as 
Barents, also made a remarkable voyage, specially sketched by 
the distinguished voyager Jan Huyghen van Linschoten.^ 

The vessels were manned by fifty men, among them two 
interpreters — a Slav, Christoffel Splindler, and a Dutch 
merchant, who had lived long in Russia, Fr. de LA Dale. 
Provisions for eight months only were taken on board. At first 
Nay and Tetgales accompanied Barents to Kilduin, which island 
is delineated and described in considerable detail in Linschoten's 
work. 

On the ~~ July Nay and Tetgales sailed from Kilduin for 
Yaygats Island. Three days afterwards they fell in with much 
drift-ice. On the ?-^th they arrived at Toxar, according to 
Linschoten's map an island on the Timan coast, a little west of 
the entrance to Petchora. They there met with a Russian 
lodj'a whose captain stated that he believed, after hearsay, that 
the Vaygats Sound ^ was continually covered with ice, and that, 
when it was passed, men came to a sea which lay to the south 
of, and was warmer than, the Polar Sea. Some other Russians 
added, the following day, that it was quite possible to sail 
through Yaygats Sound, if the whales and walruses, that 

^ Probably the Sachanich Bay of the Russians. 

^ Voyagie, ofte Schip Vaert, van Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, van hy 
Noorden om langes Noorwegen de Noortcaep, Laplant, Vinlant, Ruslandt 

. . . tot voorby de revier Oby, Franeker, 1601. Another edition at 
Amsterdam in 1624, and in abstract in Saeghman's collection of travels in 
1665. The voyage is also described in Blavii Atlas Major, 1665. Lin- 
schoten was " commis " on board, a post which included both the employ- 
ment of supercargo and that of owners' commissioner. J 

•^ That is Yugor Schar. This name also occurs, though in a somewhat |j 

altered form, as " Wegorscoi tzar," on Isaac Massa's map of 1612, wliich, ' ' 

according to the statement of the publisher, is a copy of a Russian chart. 



182 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



destroy all vessels that seek to pass through, did not form an 
obstacle ; that the great number of rocks and reefs scarcely 
permitted the passage of a vessel ; and finally, that the Grand 
Duke had ordered three vessels to attempt the passage, but 
that they had all been crushed by ice. 



A\OJSANEVei-'E 




JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN, 

Born in 1563 at Haarlem, died in 1611 at Enkhuizen. 

After a portrait in liis work, Navigatio in Orientalevi sive Lusitanorum Indiam, 

Hagse Comitis, 1599. 



On the p"^^ July there came to Toxar hunters from the White 
Sea, who spoke another language than the Russians, and 
belonged to another race of men — they were evidently Finns or 
Karelians. A large number of whales were seen in the haven, 
which gave occasion to a remark byLinschoten that whale-fishing 




p 5 



184 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

ouo-ht to be profitable there. After the ice had broken up, and 
crosses with inscriptions giving information of their movements 
had been erected on the shore, they sailed on. On the |st July 
they sighted Vaygats. They landed at a headland marked with 
two crosses, and there fell in with a native, clad in much the 
same way as a Kilduin Lapp, who soon took to flight. Other 
headlands marked with crosses were afterwards visited, and 
places where idols were found set up by hundreds. Linschoten 
also landed on that Idol Cape which was visited during the 
voyage of the Vega. There were then from three to four 
hundred wooden idols, which, according to Linschoten's descrip- 
tion, were very similar in appearance to those we saw. They 
were so ill made, says he, that one could scarcely guess that 
they were intended to represent men. The visage was very 
broad, the nose projecting, there were two holes in place of the 
eyes, and another hole represented the mouth. Five, six, or 
seven faces were often found carved on one and the same stock 
" perhaps intended to represent a whole family." Many Russian 
crosses were also erected there. Some days later they found on 
the south shore of the sound a small house filled with idols, 
much better made than the former, with eyes and paps 
of metal. While the Dutch were employed in examining this 
collection of idols, a reindeer sledo-e was driven forward in which 
sat a man armed with a bow. When he saw the foreigners, he 
called loudly, on which a number of sledges with about thirty 
men drove out of a valley and endeavoured to surround the 
Dutch, They now fled in haste to their boat, and when it had 
left the beach the Samoyeds shot at it with their arrows, but 
without hitting it. This bloodless conflict is, so far as we know, 
the only one that took place between the natives and the 
north-east voyagers. The latter are thus free from the great 
bloodguiltiness which attaches to most of those, who in the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries made voyages of discovery in 
southern regions. 

Some days later, on the -3^^;^;'^*, the Dutch had a friendly 
meeting with the Samoyeds, who gave them very correct in- 
formation concerning the state of the land and the sea, telling 
them that " after ten or twelve days they would meet with no 
more ice, and that summer would last six or seven weeks 
longer." After the Dutch had learned all they could from these 
" barbarians, who had greater skill in managing their bow than 
8. nautical gnomon, and could give better information regarding 
their hunting than about the navigable water," they took their 
departure. When one of the sailors hereupon blew a horn, the 
savages were so frightened, that they began to take to flight, 
but, quieted by the assurance that the blast of the horn was 
only a sign of friendship, they returned and on the beach 



v.] THE SECOND DUTCH EXPEDITION. 185 

saluted the departing strangers, bowing tliemselvfes to the earth 
with uncovered heads and crossed hands. 

On the ^l^j August the Dutch, full of hope, sailed into the 
Kara Sea, or, as they called it, the " North Tartaric Ocean." 
They soon fell in with ice, on which account on the ~ they 
sought protection under Mestni Island (Staten Eiland). Here 
they found a sort of rock crystal resembling diamonds in all 
respects except hardness, a disappointing circumstance which 
was ascribed to the action of cold. Here also were seen images 
and sacrificial places, but no houses and no trees. 

When Nay and Tetgales sailed on, they came to an extensive 
open sea, and on the ?-°th August they believed that they were 
off the mouth of the Obi. Two of its principal mouth-arms 
they named, after the vessels, " Swan " and " Mercurius," names 
which have since been forgotten. It is quite evident that the 
river which the Dutch took for the Obi was the Kara, and that 
the mouth-arms, Swan and Mercurius, were two small coast 
rivers which debouch from Yalmal into the Kara Sea. 

On the ^ August they determined to return home, taking it 
for proved that, from the point which had been reached, it would 
be easy to double " Promontorium Tabin," and thus get to China 
by the north-east passage. A large number of whales were seen 
raising half their bodies out of the sea and spouting jets of water 
from their nostrils in the common way, which was considered a 
further sign that they had an extensive ocean before them. 

On the J-^th August, Nay and Tetgales sailed again through 
Yugor Schar (Fretum Nassovicum), and the day after at three 
small islands, which were called Mauritius, Orange, and 
New Walcheren, they fell in with Barents, and all sailed 
home to Holland, fully convinced that the question of the 
possibility of a north-east passage to China was now solved. 
It was shown indeed, in the following year, that this supposition 
rested on quite too slight a foundation, but the voyages of Nay 
and Tetgales deserve in any case an honoured place in the 
history of navigation, for they extended considerably the. know- 
ledge of the northern regions through the discovery, or at least 
through the first passage of, Yugor Schar, and, like Barents, 
these seafarers must get the credit of carrying out the task 
assigned to them with skill, insight, resolution, and resource. 

The Second Dutch Expedition, 1595.^ — After the return 
of the first expedition a report of the discoveries which had 
been made was given in to Prince Maurice of Orange, Jan 
VAN Oldenbarnevelt, Advocate of Holland, and the other 
authorities at home. They were so convinced by this report 

1 Accounts of this expedition are given both by De Veer and Linschoten 
in the above-named works. 



180 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



that the sea route to China was actually discovered, that they 
immediately made arrangements to send out the following year 
a flotilla of seven vessels, two from Amsterdam, two from 
Zeeland, two from Enkhuizen, and one from Rotterdam, with a 
view to open the new commercial communication. 

The commanders of the vessels were Cornelis Nay (Admiral), 
Brandt Tetgales (Second in Command), Barents, Lambert 
Gerritsz. Oom, Thomas Willemsz., Harman Jansz., and 
Hendrik Hartman, The lieutenants were Linschoten, Jacob 
HeemskerK; Franco ys de la Dale, Jan Cornelisz., Bijp, 



South. 



3 He revier vin 
yrnieh huifs 




"Oejwarte ker^ > 




i Mauritius cf/j^ „ 






^¥ - \>"^'^ 



V ^ 



. ■ ^ -X)^ 







North. 

MAP OF FEETUM NASSOVICUM OR YDGOR SCHAR. 

After Linschoten. 



and N. Buys. Six of the vessels were laden with goods and 
coin; the seventh was to return home with news, when the 
fleet had sailed through Yaygats Sound. The great prepara- 
tions, however, occupied so much time that it was not until the 
^ July that the voyage could be begun. On the |^' August, 
Kegor on the Ribatschni peninsula was sighted, and on the 
f|th August the fleet arrived at the Sound between Vaygats 
and the mainland, and found a great deal of ice there. 

On the 1^^ the Dutch met with some Russians, who told 
them that the winter had been very severe, but that the ice 
would in a short time disappear, and that the summer would still 



v.] THE SECOND DUTCH EXPEDITION. 187 

last six weeks. They also stated that the land to the north- 
ward, which was called Vaygats, was an island, separated on its 
north side from Novaya Zemlya ; that it was visited in summer 
by natives, who towards winter returned to the mainland ; that 
Russian vessels, laden with goods, yearly sailed through Vaygats 
Sound past the Obi to the river Gillissy (Yenisej), where they 
passed the winter ; that the dwellers on the Yenisej were of the 
Greek-Christian religion, &c. 

On the §j^^^ the Dutch came in contact with the Samoyeds' 
south of Yaygats Sound. Their " king " received the strangers 
in a very hospitable and friendly manner, and informed them 
that in three or four weeks the cold would begin ; that in some 
years the drift-ice did not disappear ; that during winter the 
whole sound and the bays and coves were frozen over, but that 
the sea on both sides did not freeze ; that beyond the mouth 
of the river Ob there were the mouths of two other rivers, 
of which the more remote was called the " Molconsay," the 
nearer, which was often visited by Russian trading vessels, the 
Gillissy ; that the land continued beyond the Ob to a cape which 
projected towards Novaya Zemlya, and that heyond this pro- 
montory there was a great sea, which extended along Tartary 
to warm regions.-^ 

When the Dutch sailed into the Kara Sea they fell in witli 
much ice, on which account they anchored at the island, Staten 
Eiland, where during the preceding voyage rock crystal had 
been found. Here two men were killed in the way that has 
already been described.^ Depressed by this unfortunate oc- 
currence and afraid to expose their vessels, laden with valuable 
goods, too late in the season, to the large quantity of ice which 
drifted about in the Kara Sea, the commanders determined to 
turn. The fleet returned to Holland without further adven- 
ture, passing through Yaygats Sound on the ??tli September. 

This expedition did not yield any new contribution to the 
knowledge of our globe. But it deserves to be noted that we 
can state with certainty, with the knowledge we now possess of 
the ice-conditions of the Kara Sea, that the Dutch during both 
their first and second voyages had the way open to the Obi and 
Yenisej. If they had availed themselves of this and continued 
their voyage till they came to inhabited regions on either of 
these rivers, a considerable commerce would certainly have 
arisen between Middle Asia and Europe by this route as early 
as the beginning of the seventeenth century. 

1 These remarkable statements are found in Linschoten's above-quoted 
work printed in 1601, and cannot therefore be spurious. They thus show 
tliat Taimur Land was inhabited by Samoyeds, and that the geography 
of this region was then well known. _ 

" See above, p. 110. ~ 



188 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 

Tbe Third Dutch Expedition, 1596-97.^ — After the 
unfortunate issue of the expedition of 1595, which had been 
fitted out at so great an expense, and which had raised so 
great expectations, the States-General would not grant the 
necessary funds for a third voyage, but they offered instead 
a great prize to the states or merchants that at their own 




UNSUCCESSFUL FIGHT WITH A POLAR BEAR, 

During the Second Dutch Expedition. From De Veer. 



expense should send out a vessel that should by the route north 
of Asia force a passage to Asia and China.^ Encouraged by 

1 The sketch of this voyage forms the main portion of the above men- 
tioned work of De Veer. Undoubtedly the adventures during the wintering, 
the first in so high a latitude, in the first place procured for De Veer's 
work the enormous popularity it enjoyed, and led to its being translated 
into so many languages. 

2 The resolution regarding the offer of this prize is given below : 
Extract nit het Register der Eesolutien van de Hoog Mogende Heeren 

Staten G enerael der Vereenigde Nederlanden. 

FoHo 158 v=° 13 April 1596. 

De Gedepoteerde van de Heeren Staten van Holland verclaren dat heure 
principalen geadviseert hebbende op de hervattinge van het voj'agie naer 
China en Japan, benoorden om, deselve voyage afgeslagen hebben, ten 
aenzien van de groote costen die nu twee Jaren achter den anderen om de 
reyse te verzoeken te vorgeefs angewent zijn, maer dat Hare E. goetge- 
vonden ende geconsenteert hebben, mede tgevolgh van de andere provincien 
bij zoeverre datter eenige coopluijden aventuriers bij compagnie ofte 
anderssine de voerscreven reijse op heure costen ende risique, zonder te 



v.] DISCOVERY OF BEAR ISLAND AND SPITZBERGEN. . 189 

this offer the merchaiits of Amsterdam sent out two vessels, 
one under the command of Willem Barents and Jacob van 
Heemskerk, the other under Jan Cornelisz. Rijp. The crew 
were chosen w^ith care, unmarried men being preferred, with 
the idea that wife and children would detract from the 
bravery of the members of the expedition and lead them to 
return home prematurely. 

On the -th May these vessels left Amsterdam. On the jth 
June they saw in lat. 71° North some beautiful parhelia, which 
are found delineated in De Veer's work, and Blavii Atlas 
Major. 

On the ^|tb June one of the crew cried out from the deck 
that he saw white swans, but on a closer examination it appeared 
that they consisted of large pieces of ice, which drifted along 
the edge of the pack,^ On the ^^\h they discovered, north of 
North Cape, a new island, situated in latitude 74° 30' North. 
A large bear was killed here, and on this account the island 
was called Bear Island. On the |th they came in the 80th 
degree of latitude to another formerly unknown land, which 
they believed to be connected with Greenland. It was in fact 
the large group of islands, which afterwards obtained the name 
Spitzbergen. There were found here on a small island the 
eggs of a species of goose — rotgansen,'^ which comes yearly 
to Holland in great flocks, but whose breeding place was 
before unknown. With reference to this, De Veer says that 
it is finally proved that this goose is not, as has been hitherto 
supposed, propagated in Scotland by the goose laying her eggs 
from the branches of trees overhanging the water, the eggs 

schepen ende tgelt van den lande, zonde begeren te verzoeken, dat men 
dezelve aventuriers de reijse gevonden ende gedaen hebbende, daervan 
brengende goet ende geloofElijck beschijt, tot haer luijder wedercomste, 
zal vereeren mette somme van vijff en twintich duysent gulden eens. 
Item daar enboven accorderen den vrijdora voor twee jaren van convoyen 
der goederen die zij uit dese landen naer China ofE Japan zullen transpor- 
teren, ende noch vrijdom voer den tyd van acht jaren van te goederen die 
zij uit China ofte Japan in dese landen sullen bringen. Waerop gead- 
viseert wesende hebben de Gedeputeerde van d'andere provincien hen 
daarniede geconfonneert, die van Seelant opt welbehagen van heure 
principalen, maer die van Utrecht hebben verclart niet te consenteren 
in de vereeringe van XXVm £. 

1 Every Polar traveller has at one time or other made the same or a 
similar mistake. In 1861, for instance, a boat party, of whom I Avas one, 
thought that they saw clearly sailors in sou'-westers and with white shirt- 
sleeves building a cairn on a point which appeared to be at no great 
distance. But the cairn was found to be a very distant mountain, the 
shirt-sleeves were formed of snow-fields, the sou'-westers of pointed cliffs, 
and the motion arose from oscillatory changes in the atmospheric strata. 

* Undoubtedly Anser lernicla, which is common on the west coast of 
Spitzbergen. The Dutch name ought neither to be translated red goose, as 
some Englishmen have done, nor confounded with rotges. 



190 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



being broken in pieces against the surface of the water, and 
the newly hatched young immediately swimming about. 

After an unsuccessful attempt had been made to sail to the 
north of Spitzbergen the vessels proceeded southwards along the 
west coast/ and on the ^~ July came again to Bear Island. 
Here the vessels parted company, Barents sailing eastwards 
towards Novaya Zemlya, Rijp northwards towards the east 
coast of Spitzbergen. On the ph July, Barents reached the 
west coast of Novaya Zemlya in latitude 73° 20' North. On 




BARENTS AND RIJP S VESSELS. 

From De Veer. 



the ?5th July, no further advance could be made for ice, which 
still lay close to the shore. During the stay here there were 
several adventures with bears, all of which came off successfully. 
In consequence of ice obstacles their progress was exceedingly 
slow, so that it was not until the f^th. August that they reached 
the Orange Islands. The following day several of the crew 
ascended a high mountain, from which they saw open water 
on the other side of an island. As glad at the sight of the 

i_ See the copy of Barents' own map with his course laid doAvn upon it, 
which is to be found in Pontanus, Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium 
Historia (Amst. 1611), and is annexed to this woriv in photolithographic 
facsimile. 




d.l. PONTANI 




TABULA GEOGR. 

in mm admimnJig'-iUvuiatioms , 





IE NLylND 





^"^SS%4 


ri^ 










l^fe\ 




---<**i 


^Th ^•^''"kSf^ ^'^ent^ 


\ .X^^^ 3i' 


--^ r 


^Hj2i'rf^f\ 


JV"^ 


Island 


^d ^\ /^ 


\ 






Norvegia 




k i'jAi 







C^ u 



S^Umi magma f:i 



K^ \ 






MAP SHOWING BARENTS THIRD VOYAGE, 

TR OM 

d. 1. PONTANl RERUM ET URBIS AMSTELODAMENSI U Kl H ISTORIA. ANIST. 1611. 
(Closely agreeing with Barents' own original IVIap, 1598) 



v.] BARENTS' WINTERING-; 191 

sea as the ten thousand under Xenophon, they rushed back 
to the vessel to give Barents the important news. He now 
did all he could to pass the north extremity of Novaya Zemlya. 
He was successful in doing so, and on the '~st a haven, situated 
in about the latitude of 76° North, was reached with great 
difficulty, but all attempts to sail eastwards from it were 
unsuccessful. Finally, on the 2*^^^ Barents determined to 
return to Holland. 

Now, however, it was too late. The haven was blocked with 
drift-ice, which was in constant motion, several times pressed 
the vessel high up between the pieces of ice, and finally broke 
the rudder in pieces. It was now evident that it would be 
necessary to winter, and for this purpose the requisite tools, 
household articles, and provisions were landed and men sent 
out to examine the neighbourhood. Reindeer tracks were seen, 
and, what was more important, there were found on the beach 
large tree-stems with their roots still adhering, and other wood 
which the marine currents had drifted to this otherwise com- 
pletely woodless region. The drift-wood w^as collected in large 
heaps that it might not be buried under the snow in winter. 
A place was chosen for a house, and the Dutch began to draw 
timber to the place. The openings in the drift-ice were on 
the j|th September covered with a crust of ice two inches thick, 
but on the 25th^t. the ice was again somewhat broken up, which 
however was of no advantage to the imprisoned, because their 
vessel was forced up so high on a block of ground ice that 
it could not be got off. Bears were hunted almost daily. They 
were very bold and sometimes came on board the vessel. On 
the ^|th October all ice was driven off as far as the eye could 
see, but the vessel still lay motionless on the blocks of ground 
ice. Round these the ice closed in, again, to break up anew 
at a greater or less distance from the beach. On the ^^LfweT there 
was still much open water visible from the beach, and on the 
^|th and ^|th March, the sea appears to have been in one 
direction completely free of ice. 

On the |st October, the crew began to remove into the house, 
where they afterwards passed the winter 1596—97 with many 
sufferings, dangers, difficulties, and privations which are de- 
scribed in De Veer's work. The crew, however, never lost 
courage, which undoubtedly was a principal cause of most of 
them being saved. The house was built on the north-east side 
of Novaya Zemlya, on the shore of Barents' Ice Haven. It 
was situated far to the north of any other place where men 
had previously passed the winter. The land and its animal 
life was unknown, the hard frozen, almost rock-fast and yet 
continually moving ice-covering, with which the sea was 



192 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



bound, was something quite novel, as also were the effects which 
long continued and severe cold exerts on animate and inanimate 
objects. Before the attempt was made it was not considered 
at all certain that men could actually endure the severe cold 
of the highest north and the winter night three or four months 
long. No wonder therefore that the skill and undaunted 
resolution of the Dutch Polar explorers aroused unmingled 
admiration among all civilised nations, and that the narrative 
of their wintering was received with unbounded interest and 




BARENTS' HOUSE, OUTSIDE. 

From De Veer. 

formed the subject of innumerable writings and reproductions 
both in prose and verse in almost all civilised languages. Only 
a few facts from the journal of the wintering need therefore 
be given here. 

On the yth November the sun disappeared, and was again 
visible on the 24th jL. - These dates have caused scientific men 
much perplexity, because in latitude 76° North, the upper edge 
of the sun ought to have ceased to be visible when the sun's 
south declination in autumn became greater than 13°,^ and 
to have again become visible when the declination again became 
less than that figure ; that is so say, the sun ought to have 
been seen for the last time at Barents' Ice Haven on the ^-^th 



1 On the assumption of a horizontal refraction of about 45'. 



v.]. 



BARENTS' WINTERING. 



193 



October, and it ought to have appeared again there on the "th 
February. It has been supposed that the deviation arose from 
some considerable error in counting the days, but this was 
unanimously denied by the crew who wintered.^ The bears 
disappeared and reappeared with the sun. Instead, foxes came 
during winter to the building, and were caught for food in 
numbers, many on the roof of the house. In order to pass 
the time and keep up their courage, the Dutch sometimes had 




BARENTS' HOUSE, INSIDE. 

From De Bry. 



entertainments, at which the cheerfulness of the partakers had 
to make up for the meagreness of the fare. After the return 
of the sun the bears again came very close, so that there was 

^ See on this point De Veer, leaf 25 and an unpaged leaf between pages 
30 and 31 in Blavii Atlas Major, torn. i. That a mistake occurred in the 
date is not possible, because the latitude was determined by solar observk- 
tions on the 29th (19th) February, the 21st (11th) and 31st (21st) March 
(see De Veer, 1. 27). Besides, at the correct date, the 3rd February (24th 
January), a conjunction of Jupiter and the moon was observed, whereby 
the dijjerence of longitude between Ice Haven and Venice was determined 
to be 75°. However erroneous this determination may be, it shows, 
however, that the date was correct. 





194 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. " [chap. 

a number of hunting adventures with them, all of which came 
off successfully. Several bears made themselves at home in 
the vessel abandoned by the crew, casting everything about, 
and broke up the hatch of the kitchen, covered as it was with 
deep snow. An attempt to eat bear's liver resulted in those 
that ate of it becoming very ill, and after recovery renewing 
their skin over the whole body. Once during severe cold, 
when pitcoal was used to warm the building, all the men in 
it were like to have died of the fumes. On one or two occa- 
sions, for instance on the |th February, so much snow had 
collected outside the door, that it was necessary to go out by the 
chimney. For the preservation of their health the Dutch often 
took a vapour bath in a barrel fitted up for the purpose. 

On the i^^^, the first small birds were seen, and on the -th 

27 1 h April I '15 

May Barents declared that if ths vessel were not got off before 
the end of the month, they should return in boats, which were 
therefore immediately got ready. This was, however, attended 
with great difficulty, because most of the crew had during the 
course of the winter become exceedingly weak, evidently from 
scurvy. After the equipment of the boats had been completed 
and they had been properly laden with provisions, the Dutch at 
last started on the |^ June. 

A man had died on the ^^^.. At the beginning of the boat 
voyage Barents himself was very ill, and six days after, on the 
l^th June, he died, while resting with his companions on a 
large floe, being compelled to do so by the drift-ice. On the 
same day one of the crew died, and on the ^|th July another. 

On the s^^ the returning Arctic explorers at St. Lawrens' 
Bay fell in with two vessels manned by Russian hunters, 
whose acquaintance the Dutchmen had made the year before, 
and who now received them with great friendliness and pity for 
their sufferings. They continued their voyage in their small 
open boats, and all arrived in good health and spirits at Kola, 
where they were received with festivities by the inhabitants. 
It gave them still greater joy to meet here Jan Cornelisz. Rijp, 
from whom they had parted at Bear Island the preceding year, 
and of whose voyage we know only that he intended to sail up 
along the east coast of Spitzbergen, and that, when this was 
found to be impossible, he returned home the same autumn. 

After the two boats, in which Barents' companions had 
travelled with so many dangers and difficulties from their winter 
haven to Russian Lapland, had been left in the merchant's yard^ 

1 Built along with a weigh-house intended for the Norwegians in 1582 
by the first vojvode in Kola (Hamel, p. 66). In Pontanus {Eerum et 
urbis Amstelodamensiuni Historia, Amsterodami, 1611, p. 142), there is 
a drawing of the inner yard of this house, and of the reception of 
shipwrecked men there. 



v.l 



JACOB VAN HEEMSKERK. 



195 



at Kola, as a memorial of the journey — the first memorial of 
a, Polar expedition was thus raised at Kola ! — they went on 
board Rijp's vessel, and sailed in it to Holland, arriving there 
the Z^TnT" '- Sixteen men had left Holland with Barents, 

29th October. ' 

twelve men returned in safety to their native land, and among 
them Jacob van Heemskerk, a man who during the whole 
voyage had played a prominent part, and afterwards lived long- 
enough to see the time when the Dutch were a match at sea 




JACOB VAN HEEMSKERK, 

Bom in 1567 at Amsterdam, died in 1607 at Gibraltar. 
After a contemporary engraving by N. de Clerck. 

for the Spaniards. For he fell as commander of the Dutch fleet 
which defeated the Spanish at Gibraltar on April 25, 1607. 

During Barents' third voyage Bear Island and Spitzbergen 
were discovered, and the natural conditions of the high northern 
regions during winter first became known. On the other 
hand, the unfortunate issue of the maritime expeditions sent 
out from Holland appears to have completely deterred from 

2 



196 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

further attempts to find a north-eastern commercial route to 
China and Japan, and this route was also now less necessary, 
as Houtman returned with the first Dutch fleet from the East 
Indies the same year that Barents' companions came back from 
their wintering. The problem was therefore seriously taken up 
anew for the first time during the present century; though 
during the intervening period attempts to solve it were not 
wholly wanting. 

For the desire to extend the White Sea trade to Siberia, 
and jealousy of the companies that had known how to procure 
for themselves a monopoly of the lucrative commerce with 
eastern Asia, still led various merchants now and then during 
the seventeenth century to send out vessels to try whether -.it 
was possible to penetrate beyond Novaya Zemlya. I shall 
confine myself here to an enumeration of the most important 
of these undertakings, with the necessary bibliographical 
references. 

1608, Henry Hudson, during his second voyage, landed on 
Novaya Zemlya at Karmakul Bay and other places, but did not 
succeed in his attempt to sail further to the east, north of this 
island. He made the voyage on account of English merchants. 
A narrative of it is to be found in Purchas (iii. p. 574), and an 
excellent critical collection of all the original documents 
relating to Hudson's life and voyages in G. M. Asher's 
Henry Hudson the Navigator, London, 1860 (Works issued by 
the Hakluyt Society, No. 26). It was west of the Atlantic 
that Hudson earned the laurels which gave him for all time so 
prominent a place in the history of navigation, and the sea 
there also became his grave. Eastwards he did not penetrate 
so far as his predecessors. I cannot therefore here find room 
for any account of his voyage to Novaya Zemlya ; it may 
only be mentioned that two of his crew on the morning 
of the f-gth of June, 1608, in 75° N.L., saw a mermaid. The 
following statement is taken from his journal : " This morning 
one of the crew, as he looked over the side, saw a mermaid. 
Another of his comrades came up at his call. She was 
close to the vessel's side, looking steadily at the men. Soon 
after she was thrown down by a wave. From the middle 
upwards her back and breast were like a woman's. Her body 
was as large as a man's, her skin very white, and long dark 
hair, hung down her back. When she dived, they saw her 
tail, which resembled that of a dolphin and was spotted like 
a mackerel's. The names of the men who saw her were 
Thomas Hiller and Robert Rayner." It was probably a curious 
seal that gave occasion to this version of the old yarn, 

1611. William Gourdon, with the title "appointed chief 
pilote for discoverie to Ob," brought this year a cargo of goods 



v.] DUTCH AND DANISH EXPEDITIONS. 197 

to -Pustosersk, and sailed thence to Novaya Zemlya. At the 
mouth of the Petchora he saw 24 locljas, manned with ten to 
16 men each, bound for " Mangansei " east of Ob (Purchas, iii. 
pp. 530, 534). While attempting to get further information 
regarding these voyages to Siberia, the Muscovy Company's 
envoy learned that, at least as a rule, the question was only of 
carrying goods by sea to the bottom of Kara Bay, whence they 
were transported overland to Ob, advantage being taken of two 
small rivers and a lake (Purchas, iii. p. 539). But other 
accounts lead us to infer that the Russian lodjas actually sailed 
to Ob, even through Matotschkin Schar, as appears from 
statements in Purchas (iii. pp. 804, 805). At the same place 
we find the statement, already quoted, of a Russian, who in 
1584 offered for fifty roubles to act as guide overland from the 
Petchora to the Ob, that a West-European ship was wrecked 
at the mouth of the Ob, and its crew killed by the Samoyeds 
who lived there. The Russian also said that it was an easy 
matter to sail from Yaygats to the mouth of the Ob. 

1612. The whaling captain Jan Coenelisz. van Hooen 
endeavoured to sail north of Novaya Zemlya towards the east, 
but met with ice in 77° N.L., which compelled him to return 
(Witsen, p. 906). 

1625. CoENELis BoSMAN, at the instance of the Northern 
Company of the Netherlands, with a vessel of 90 tons, manned 
by 24 men, and provisioned for two and a half years, passed 
through Yugor Schar eastwards, but fell in with so much ice in 
the Kara Sea that he was compelled to seek for a harbour in 
that sound. There he waited for more favourable conditions, 
but was finally compelled by storm and ice to return with his 
object unaccomplished. (S. Miiller, Geschiedenis der Noordsclu 
Compagnie, Utrecht, 1874, p. 185.) 

1653.^ This year a Danish expedition was sent out to the 
North-east, An account of the voyage was given by De la 
MAETiNifeRE, surgeon to the expedition, in a work published for 
the first time at Paris in 1671, with the following title : Voyage 
des Pais Septentrionaux. Dans lequel se void Us mmurs, manih-e de 
vivre, & superstitions des Norweguiens, Lappons, Kiloppes, Boran- 
diens, Syheriens, Sam,ojedes, ZemUiens, & Islandois, enrichi de 
'plusieurs figures.^ This work afterwards attained a considerable 

^ The year is incorrectly given as 1647 by F. von Adelung (Kritisch- 
Litterdrische Uebersicht, &c.). 

2 The following editions are enumerated : four French, Paris, 1671, 1672, 
1676, and Amsterdam, 1708 ; six German, Hamburg, 1675, Leipzig, 1703, 
1706, 1710, 1711, and 1718; one Latin, Gliickstadt, 1675; two Dutch, 
Amsterdam, 1681 and 1685 ; one Italian, printed in Conte Aurelio degli 
Anzi's II Genio Vagante, Parma, 1691 ; two English, one printed separately 
in 1706, the other in Harris, Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bihl., 3rd 
edition. London, 1744-48, Vol. II. p. 467. 



198 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



circulation, doubtless in consequence of Martiniere's easy style, 
contrasting so strongly with the common dry ship's-log manner, 
and the large number of wonderful stories he narrates, without 
the least regard to truth or probability. He is the Miinchhausen 
of the North-east voyages. The Norse peasants, for instance, are 
said to be all slaves to the nobles, who have sovereign power 
over their property, tyrannise over their inferiors, and are prone 
to insurrection. The elks are said to be liable to falling sickness, 
and therefore fall down in convulsions when they are hunted — 
hence their name " eleend." Sailors are said to have purchased 
on the north-west coast of Norway for ten crowns and a pound 








'''fay^ 




DE LA MABTINIJIRE'S MAP. 



of tobacco three knots of wind from the Lapps living there, who 
were all magicians ; when the first knot was loosed, a gentle 
breeze arose, the second gave a strong gale, the third a storm, 
during which the vessel was in danger of being wrecked.^ 
Novaya Zemlya is stated to be inhabited by a peculiar tribe, 
"the Zembliens," of whom two were taken prisoners and carried 
to Copenhagen. De la Martiniere also got the head of a walrus, 
which had been harpooned with great difficulty ; the animal was 
drawn as a fish with a long horn projecting from its head. As 

^ The story of the wind knots is taken from Olaus Magnus, De gentibus 
septentrionalibus, Rome, 1555, p. 119. There a drawing of the appearance 
of the knots is also given. 



v.] DUTCH EXPEDITIONS. 199 

a> specimen of the birds of Novaya Zemlya a penguin was 
drawn and described, and finally the work closed with a rectifi- 
cation of the map of the Polar Eegions, which according to the 
author's ideas ought to be as represented below. I refer to these 
absurdities, because the account of Martiniere's voyage exerted 
no little influence on the older writings relating to the Arctic 
Regions. 

1664 and 1668. A whaling captain, Willem de Vlamingh, 
sailed in 1664 round the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya 
to Barents' winter quarters, and thence eastwards, where one 
of his men thought he saw land (" Jelmert-landt," Witsen, 
p. 902).^ The same Vlamingh says that in 1668 he discovered, 
twenty-five miles N.N.E. of Kolgujev, a new island three to four 
miles in circumference. This island, which was described in 
great detail, and named by the discoverer " Witsen's Island," 
has not since been seen again ( Witsen, p. 923). 

1666. In this year some vessels were sent from the Nether- 
lands to the north-east. There were Jews among the owners 
and the se-afarers were furnished with letters in Hebrew, because 
it was believed that they would come in contact with some of 
the lost tribes of Israel. Nothing further appears to have been 
known of the voyage, which undoubtedly was without result. 
(Witsen, p. 962.) 

1675. A Dutch whaling captain, Cornelis Piersz. Snob- 
BEEGER, visited Novaya Zemlya, on whose coast he killed three 
whales and six hundred walruses. He would probably have 
got still more " fish," if he had not in 72^° found an ore, which 
appeared to contain silver, gold, and other metals. Instead of 
blubber the skipper now loaded ore, which in his opinion was 
precious, but afterwards on being tested at home was found to 
be valueless (Witsen,^. 918). 

17th Century, year not stated. Shipmaster Cornelis Roule 
is said to have sailed in the longitude of Novaya Zemlya to 84|° 
or 85° N.L. and there discovered a fjord-land, along which he 
sailed ten miles. Beyond that a large open sea was seen. From 
a high mountain situated on a sound, in which he rode, it 
appeared that he might sail one or two watches further, to the 
north. He found there large numbers of birds, which were 
exceedingly tame {Witsen, p. 920). If we take some degrees 
from the latitude stated, which is perhaps not very unreason- 
able in dealing with the narratives of old whalers, which 
have passed through two or three hands, Roule may, as far 
back as two hundred years ago, have reached Franz-Josef's 
Land, and sailed along its coast to a very high latitude for 
those regions. 

1676. Wood and Flawes were sent out from^ England by 

•^ Compare page 156. 



200 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Charles II. to sail by the north-east passage to the Pacific. For 
this purpose the English Admiralty fitted out a vessel, the 
Speedwell, while " as all exploratory voyages are exposed to the 
possibility of disaster," another small ship, the Frosjoerous, was 
purchased and handed over to the expedition by private gentle- 
men.^ The command of the first vessel was given to Captain 
Wood, the chief promoter of the undertaking, and the other 
vessel was commanded by Captain Flawes. The voyage was 
completely without result, as Wood did not penetrate so far, 
either to the north or east, as his predecessors or as the 
whalers, who appear to have at that time frequently visited 
North Novaya Zemlya. Wood had previously accompanied Sir 
John Narborough during a voyage through the dangerous 
Magellan Straits, in the course of which he became known 
as a bold and skilful seaman, but he not only wanted experi- 
ence in sailing amongst ice, but also the endurance and tlie 
coolness that are required for voyages in the high north. He 
thereby showed himself to be quite unfit for the command 
which he undertook. Before his departure he was unreason- 
ably certain of success ; with the first encounter with ice his 
self-reliance gave way entirely ; and when his vessel was 
wrecked on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, he knoAV no other way 
to keep up the courage of his men and prevent mutiny than 
to send the brandy bottle round.''^ Finally after his return 
he made Barents and other distinguished seafarers in the 
Arctic Regions answerable for all the skipper tales collected 
from quite other quarters, which he before his departure held 
to be proved undoubtedly true. This voyage would therefore 
not have been referred to here, if it had not been preceded and 
followed by lively discussions regarding the fitness of the Polar 
Sea for navigation, during which at least a portion of the 
experience which Dutch and English whalers had gained of the 
state of the ice between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya was 
rescued from oblivion, though unfortunately almost exclusively 
in the form of unconfirmed statements of very high latitudes, 
which had been occasionally reached. Three papers mainly led 
to Wood's voyage. These were : — 

1. A letter, inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society,^ 

^ These were James Duke of York, Lord Berklej", Sir John Williamsoi', 
Sir John Bankes, Mr. Samuel Peepp, Captain Herbert, Mr. Dupey, and Mr. 
Hoopgood (Harris, Nav. Bihl., vol. ii. p. 453). 

^ "AH I could do in this exigency was to let the brandy-bottle go 
round, which kept them allways fox'd, till the 8th July Captain Flawes 
cams so seasonably to our relief" (Barrow, J. Chronological Ristory of 
Voyages into the Arctic Regions. London, 1818, p. 268). 

^ " A letter, not long' since written to the Publisher by an Experienced 
person residing at Amsterdam," etc. {Philosophical Transactions, vol. ix. 
p. 3. London, 1674). 



v.] FORMER IDEAS REGARDING NOVAYA ZEMLYA. 201 

on the state of Novaya Zemlya, said to be founded on discoveries 
which had been made at the express command of the Czar. 
The letter was accompanied by a map, drawn by an artist 
named Panelapoetski, who sent it from Moscow as a present 
to the writer. The Kara Sea is said to be a freshwater inland 
lake which freezes strongly in winter, and it is stated that 
according to the unanimous accounts of the Samoyeds and 
Tartars it is quite possible to sail north of Novaya Zemlya to 
Japan. 

2. Another letter was inserted in the Transactions of the Royal 
Society ,1 in which the statement in the former letter on the 
connection of Novaya Zemlya with the mainland is repeated, 
and the difficulties which Barents met wnth ascribed to the 
circumstance that he sailed too near the land, along which the 
sea is often frozen ; some miles from the shore, on the other 
hand, it never freezes, even at the Pole, unless occasionally. 
It is also said that some Amsterdam merchants sailed more 
than a hundred leagues eastward of Novaya Zemlya, and on 
that account petitioned the States-General for privileges.^ 
However, in consequence of opposition from the Dutch East 
India Company, their petition was not granted, on which the 
merchants turned to Denmark. Here their proposal was 
immediately received with favour. Two vessels were fitted out, 
but instead of sailing to Japan, they went to Spitzbergen to 
the whale-fishing. It is further stated in the letter that it 
would not be unadvisable to let some persons live for a time 
with the Samoyeds, in order to find out what they knew of the 
matter, and that, when a more complete knowledge of the 
navigable waters was acquired, the whole voyage from England 
to Japan might be accomplished in five or six weeks. Were a 

^ "A summary Relation of what hath been hitherto discovered in the 
matter of the North-East passage ; communicated by a good Hand " {Phil. 
Trans., vol. x. p. 417. London, 1675). 

^ The time when the voyage was made is not stated in the letter quoted. 
Harris says that he with great difficulty ascertained the year of the 
successful voyage to the eastward to be 1670. He says further that the 
persons who gave him this information also stated that, at the time when 
this petition was given in to the States-General, it was also asserted that 
there was no difficulty in sailing northwards from Spitzbergen (Greenland), 
and that many Dutch vessels had actually done it. To confirm this state- 
ment the merchants proposed that the logs of the Spitzbergen fleet for the 
year 1655 should be examined. This was done. In seven of them it was 
found recorded that the vessels had sailed to 79° N. L. Three other logs 
agreed in the point that on the 1st August, 1655, 88° 5&' was observed. The 
sea here was open and the swell heavy (Harris, Nav. Bihl., ii. p. 453). J. R. 
Forster {Geschichte der Entdechungenund Scliiffsfahrten im Norden, Frank- 
furt a. d. Oder, 1874) appears to place the voyage eastward of Novaya 
Zemlya in the period before 1614. It is, however, probable that the voyage 
in question is Vlamingh's remarkable one in 1G64, or that in 1666, of which 
I have already given an account. 



202 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

wintering necessary, it would not be attended with any danger, 
if, instead of a house of thick planks standing by itself, earth 
huts were used. 

3. A pamphlet, whose contents are given in the long and 
peculiar title : " A brief Discourse of a Passage by the North- 
Pole to Japan, China, etc. Pleaded by Three Experiments : 
and Answers to all Objections that can be urged against a 
Passage that way. As : 1. By a Navigation from Amsterdam 
into the North-Pole, and two Degrees beyond it, 2. By a 
Navigation from Japan towards the North-Pole. 3. By an 
Experiment made by the Czar of Muscovy, whereby it appears, 
that to the Northwards of Nova Zembla is a free and open Sea 
as far as Japan, China, etc. With a Map of all the Discovered 
Lands neerest to the Pole. By Joseph Moxon, Hydrographer 
to the King's most Exellent Majesty. London, 1674." 

The most remarkable passage in this scarce little book is the 
following : — 

" Being about twenty-two years ago in Amsterdam, I 
went into a drinking-house to drink a cup of beer for my thirst, 
and sitting by the public fire, among several people, there 
happened a seaman to come in, who, seeing a friend of his 
there, whom he knew went in the Greenland voyage, wondered 
to see him, because it was not yet time for the Greenland fleet 
to come home, and asked him what accident brought him home 
so soon; his friend (who was the steer-man aforsaid in a 
Greenland ship that summer) told him, that their ship went 
not out to fish that summer, but only to take in the lading of 
the whole fleet, to bring it to an early market. But, said he, 
before the fleet had caught fish enough to lade us, we, by order 
of the Greenland Company, sailed unto the north pole and back 
again. Whereupon (his relation being novel to me) I entered 
into discourse with him, and seemed to question the truth of 
what he said ; but he did ensure me it was true, and that the 
ship was then in Amsterdam, and many of the seamen 
belonging to her to justify the truth of it ; and told me, moreover, 
that they had sailed two degrees beyond the pole. I asked him 
if they found no land or islands about the pole ? He told me. 
No, they saw no ice ; I asked him what weather they had 
there ? He told me fine warm weather, such as was at 
Amsterdam in the summer time and as hot." ^ 

^ In more recent times the whalers have been more modest in their 
statements about high northern latitudes reached. Thus a Dutchman 
who had gone whale-fishing for twenty-two years, at an accidental 
meeting with Tschitschagoff in Bell Sound in the year 1766, stated among 
other things that he himself had once been in 81°, but that he heard that 
other whalers had been in 83° and had seen land over the ice. He had 
seen the east coast of Greenland (Spitzbergen) dnly once in 75° N. L. 



v.] THE SEA AT THE POLE OCCASIONALLY NAVIGABLE. 203 

In addition to these stories there were several contributions 
to a solution of the problem, which Wood himself collected, as 
a statement by Captain Goulden, who had made thirty voyages 
to Spitzbergen, that two Dutchmen had penetrated eastward 
of that group of islands to 89° N.L. ; the observation that 
on the coast of Corea whales had been caught with European 
harpoons in them;^ and that driftwood eaten to the heart 
by the sea-worm was found on the coasts of the Polar 
lands, &c." 

When Wood failed, he abandoned the views he had before 
maintained, declaring that the statements on which he had 
founded his plans were downright lies and delusions. But the 
belief in a polar sea that is occasionally navigable is not yet 
given up. It has since then been maintained by such men as 
Daines Baeeington,^ Feedinand von Weangel, Augustus 
Peteemann,* and others. Along with nearly all Polar travellers 
of the present day, I had long been of an opposite opinion, 
believing the Polar Sea to be constantly covered with im- 
penetrable masses of ice, continuous or broken up, but I have 
come to entertain other views since in the course of two 

(Herrn von Tschitschagoff Russisch-kaiserlichen Admirals Reise nach dem 
Eissmeer, St. Petersburg, 1793, p. 83). Dutch shipmasters too, who in the 
beginning of the seventeenth century penetrated north of Spitzbergen to 
82°, said that they had thence seen land towards the north (MuUer, 
Geschiedenis der Noordsche Compagnie. p. 180). 

^ Witsen states, p. 43, that he had conversed with a Dutch seaman, 
Benedictus Klerk, who had formerly served on board a whaler, and after- 
wards been a prisoner in Corea. He had asserted that in whales that were 
killed on the coast of that country he had found Dutch harpoons. The 
Dutch then carried on whale-fishing only in the north part of the Atlantic. 
The _/??zc? thus shows that whales can swim from one ocean to the other. 
As we know that these colossal inhabitants of the Polar Sea do not swim 
from one ice-ocean to the other across the equator, this observation must 
be considered very important, especially at a time when the question 
whether Asia and America are connected across the Pole was yet unsettled. 
Witsen also enumerates, at p. 900, several occasions on which stone 
harpoons were found in the skins of whales caught in the North 
Atlantic. These harpoons, however, may as well be derived from the 
wild races, unacquainted with iron, at Davis Strait, as from tribes living 
on the north part of the Pacific. At Kamschatka, too, long before whale- 
fishing by Europeans began in Behring's Sea, harpoons marked with Latin 
letters were found in whales (Steller, Beschreibung von dem Lande 
Kanitschatka, Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1774, p. 102). 

2 The account of Wood's voyage was printed in London in 1694 by 
Smith and Walford, printers to the Royal Society (according to a state- 
ment by Barrington, The possiUlity of ajyproacMng the North Pole asserted, 
2nd Edition, London, 1818, p. 34), I have only had an opportunity of 
seeing extracts from the account of this voyage in Harris and others. 

^ Barrington published a number of papers on this question, which are 
collected in the work whose title is given above, of which there were two 
editions. 

** At several places in his Mittkeilungen, 1855-79. 



204 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

winterings— the first in 79° 63', that is to say, nearer the Pole 
than any other has wintered in the old world, the second in 
the neighbourhood of the Asiatic Pole of cold — I have seen that 
the sea does not freeze completely, even in the immediate 
neighbourhood of land. From this I draw the conclusion that 
the sea scarcely anywhere permanently ^ freezes over where it is 
of any considerable depth, and far from land. If this be the 
case, there is nothing unreasonable in the old accounts, and 
what has happened once we may expect to happen another time. 

However this may be, it is certain that the ignominious 
result of Wood's voyage exerted so great a deterring influence 
from all new undertakings in the same direction, that nearly 
two hundred years elapsed before an expedition was again sent 
out with the distinctly declared intention, which was afterwards 
disavowed, of achieving a north-east passage. This was the 
famous Austrian expedition of Payer and Wbyprecht in 
1872—74, which failed indeed in penetrating far to the east- 
ward, but which in any case formed an epoch in the history of 
Arctic exploration by the discovery of Franz- Josef's Land 
and by many valuable researches on the natural conditions 
of the Polar lands. Considered as a North-east voyage, this 
expedition was the immediate predecessor of that of the Vega. 
It is so well known through numerous works recently published, 
and above all by Payer's spirited narrative, that I need not go 
into further detail regarding it. 

But if the North-east voyages proper thus almost entirely 
ceased during the long interval between Wood's and Payer's 
voyages, a large number of other journeys for the purpose of 
research and hunting were instead carried out during this 
period, through which we obtained the first knowledge founded 

^ Tbat thin sheets of ice are formed in clear and calm weather, even in 
the open sea and over great depths, was observed several times during the 
expedition of 1868. But when we consider that salt water has no 
maximum of density situated above the freezing-point, that ice is a bad 
conductor of heat, and that the clear, newly-formed ice is soon covered by 
a layer of snow which hinders radiation, it appears to me to be improbable 
that the ice-covering at deep, open places can become so thick that it is 
not broken up even by a moderate storm. Even the shallow harbour at 
Mussel Bay first froze permanently in the beginning of February, and in 
the end of January the swell in the harbour was so heavy, that all the 
three vessels of the Swedish Expedition were in danger of being wrecked 
■ — in consequence of the tremendous sea in 80° N.L.in the end of January ! 
The sea must then have been open very far to the north-west. On the 
west coast of Spitzbergen the sea in winter is seldom completely frozen 
within sight of land. Even at Barents' winter haven on the north-east 
coast of Novaya Zemlya, the sea during the coldest season of the year was 
often free of ice, and Hudson's statement, " that it is not surprising that 
the navigator falls in with so much ice in the North Atlantic, when there 
are so many sounds and bays on Spitzbergen," shows that even he did not 
believe in any ice being formed in the open sea. 



VI.] VOYAGES OF THE EUSSIANS AND NORWEGIANS. 205 

on actual observations of the natural conditions of Novaya 
Zemlya and the Kara Sea. Of these voyages, mainly made by 
Eussians and Scandinavians, I shall give an account in the next 
chapter. It was these that prepared the way for the success 
which we at last achieved. 



CHAPTER VT. 

The North-east Voyages of the Eussians and Norwegians— Rodi%'an 
Ivanov, 1690— The great Northern Expedition, 1734-37— The sup- 
posed richness in metals of Novaya Zemlya— Juschkov, 1757 — Savva 
Loschkin, 1760— Eossmuislov, 1768— Lasarev, 1819— Liitke, 1821-24— 
Ivanov, 1822-28— Pachtussov, 1832-35— Von Baer, 1837— Zivolka and 
Moissejev, 1838-39— Von Krusenstern, 1860-62— The Origin and His- 
tory of the Polar Sea Hunting — Carlsen, 1868 — Ed. Johannesen, 1869- 
70— Ulve, Mack, and Quale, 1870— Mack, 1871— Discovery of the 
Relics of Barents' wintering — Tobiesen's wintering, 1872-73 — The 
Swedish Expeditions, 1875 and 1876 — Wiggins, 1876— Later Voyages 
to and from the Yenisej. 

From what I have stated above it follows that the coast 
population of North Russia carried on an active navigation on 
the Polar Sea long before the English and the Dutch, and that 
commercial expeditions were often undertaken from the White 
Sea and the Petchora to the Ob and the Yenisej, sometimes 
wholly by sea round Yalmal, but most frequently partly by sea and 
partly by land transport over that peninsula. In the latter case 
the Russians went to work in the following way ; they first sailed 
through Yugor Straits, and over the southern part of the Kara 
Sea to the mouth of the Mutnaja, a river debouching on Yalmal ; 
they then rowed or towed the boats up the river and over two 
lakes to a ridge about 350 metres broad, which forms the 
watershed on Yalmal between the rivers running west and those 
running east ; over this ridge the boats and the goods were 
dragged to another lake, Selennoe, from which they were finally 
carried down the River Selennaja to the Gulf of Obi.^ 

These and similar accounts were collected with great difficulty, 
and not without danger, by the Muscovy Company's envoys ; but 

1 Compare : " The names of the places that the Russes sayle by, from 
Pechorskoie Zauorot to Mongozey " {Purchas, iii. p. 539) : "The voyage of 
Master Josias Logan to Pechora, and his wintering there with Master 
William Pursglove and Marmaduke Wilson, Anno 1611 " {loc. cit. p. 541) : 
" Extracts taken out of two letters of Josias Logan from Pechora, to Master 
Hakluyt, Prebend of Westminster" {loc. cit. p. 546) : "Other obseruations 
of the sayd William Pursglove " (loc. cit. p. 550). The last paper contains 
good information regarding the Obi, Tas, Yenisej, Pjasina, Chatanga, 
and Lena. 



206 , THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

among the accounts that have been thus preserved we do not 
find a single sketch of any special voyage, on the ground of 
which we could place a Russian name beside that of Willoughby, 
Burrough, Pet and Barents in the older history of the North- 
East Passage. The historical sources of Russia too must be 
similarly incomplete in this respect, to judge from the otherwise 
instructive historical introduction to Liitke's voyage. Gallant 
seamen, but no Hakluyt, were born during the sixteenth and 
seventeenth century on the shores of the White Sea, and 
therefore the names of these seamen and the story of their 
voyages have long since fallen into complete obscurity, excepting 
some in comparatively recent times. 

In the second edition of Witsen's great work we find, at page 
913, an account of an unsuccessful hunting voyage to the Kara 
Sea, undertaken in 1690, that is to say, at a time when voyages 
between the White Sea and the Obi and Yenisej were on the 
point of ceasing completely. The account was drawn up by 
Witsen from an oral communication by one of the shipwrecked 
men, Rodivan Ivanov, who was for several years mate on a 
Russian vessel, employed in seal-fishing on the coast of Novaya 
Zemlya and Vaygats Island. 

On the ^ September this Rodivan Ivanov suffered ship- 
wreck with two vessels on Serapoa Koska (Serapov's Bank,) 
probably situated in the Southern part of the Kara Sea. The 
ice was thrown up here in winter into lofty ice-casts with 
such a crashing noise that "the world was believed to be coming 
to an end," and at high water with a strong breeze the whole 
island was submerged with the exception of some knolls. On 
one of these the winter house was erected. It was built of clay, 
which was kneaded with the blood and hair of the seal and 
walrus. This mixture hardened to a solid mass, of which the 
walls were built with the help of boards from the vessel. 
The house thus afforded good protection not only from cold and 
bad weather, but also from bears. A furnace was also built 
inside the house and fired with driftwood collected on the beach. 
Train oil from the captured animals was used for lighting. 
There wintered here fifteen men in all, of whom eleven died 
of scurvy. Want of exercise perhaps mainly conduced to bring 
on this disease. For most of them did not leave the house 
during the winter night, five weeks long. Those were most 
healthy who had most exercise, as, for instance, the mate, who 
was the yovmgest among the crew, and therefore had to go round 
the island to collect wood. Another cause of the great mortality 
was the total want of provisions brought from home. For the 
first eight days their food consisted of seaweed dredged up from 
the bottom of the sea, with which some meal was mixed. After- 
wards they ate the flesh of the seal and walrus, and of the Polar 



vr.] EODIVAN IVANOV. 207 

bear and the fox. The flesh of the bear and the walrus, how- 
ever, was considered unclean,^ on which account it was eaten 
only in case of necessity, and the flesh of the fox had an un- 
pleasant flavour. Sometimes the want of food was so great 
that they were compelled to eat the leather of their boots and 
furs. The number of the seals and walruses which they caught 
was so great, "that the killed animals, laid together, would 
have formed a heap ninety fathoms in length, of the same 
breadth, and six feet high." ^ They found, besides, on the island 
a stranded whale. 

In spring Samoyeds came from the mainland, and plundered 
the Kussians of part of their catch. Probably for fear of the 
Samoyeds, the surviving hunters did not go over the ice to the 
mainland, but remained on the desert island until by a fortunate 
accident they were rescued by some of their countrymen engaged 
in a hunting expedition. In connection with the account of this 
voyage Witsen states that the previous year a Kussian hunting 
vessel stranded east of the Oh. 

It is probable that towards the close of the sixteenth century 
the Russian hunting voyages to Novaya Zemlya had already 
fallen off considerably. The commercial voyages perhaps had 
long before altogether ceased. It appears as if after the com- 
plete conquest of Siberia the land route over the Ural mountains, 
formerly regarded with such superstitious feelings, was preferred, 
to the unsafe sea route across the Kara Sea, and as if the Govern- 
ment even put obstacles in the way of the latter by setting 

^ The stringent regulations regarding fasting of the Russians, especially 
the Old Believers, if they be literally observed, form an insuperable obstacle 
to the colonisation of high-northern regions, in which, to avoid scurvy, 
man requires an abundant supply of fresh flesh. Thus, undoubtedly, 
religious prejudices against certain kinds of food caused the failure of the 
colony of Old Believers which was founded in 1767 on Kolgujev Island, 
in order that its members might undisturbed use their old church books 
and cross themselves in the way they considered most proper. The 
same cause also perhaps conduced to the failure of the attempts which 
are said to have been made after the destruction of Novgorod by Ivan 
the Terrible in 1570 by fugitives from that town to found a colony on 
Novaya Zemyla (^Historische Nachrichten von den Samojeden und den 
Lapplandern, Riga und Mietau, 1769, p. 28). This book was first printed in 
French at Konigsberg in 1762. The author was Klingstedt, a Swede in 
the Russian service, who long lived at Archangel. 

^ The statement is incredible, and probably originated in some mistake. 
To form such a heap of walruses at least 50,000 animals would have been 
required, and it is certain that fifteen men could not have killed so many. 
If we assume that in the statement of the length and breadth, feet ought 
to stand in place of fathoms, we get the still excessive number of 1,500 
to 3,000 killed animals. Probably instead of 90 we should have 9, in 
which case the heap would correspond to about 500 walruses and seals 
killed. The walrus tusks collected weighed 40 pood, which again indicates 
the capture of 150 to 200 animals. 



203 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. 

watches at Matvejev Island and at Yugor Straits.^ These were 
to receive payments from the hunters and merchants, and the 
regulations and exactions connected with this arrangement 
deprived the Polar Sea voyages of just that charm which had 
hitherto induced the bravest and hardiest of the population 
to devote themselves to the dangerous traffic to the Ob, and 
to the employment of hunting, in which they were exposed to 
so many dangers, and subject to so great privations. 

The circumstance to which we have referred may also be the 
reason why we do not know of a single voyage in this part 
of the Polar Sea during the period which elapsed from the 
voyage of Rodivan Ivanov to " the great Northern Expedition." 
It examined, among other parts of the widely extended north 
coast of the Russian empire, the southern portion also of the 
navigable waters here in question, in the years 1734, 35, 
under Muravjev and Paulov, and in 1736, 37 under Malygin, 
Skuratov, and Suchotin. . Their main working field however did 
not lie here, but in Siberia itself; and I shall give an account 
of their voyages in the Kara Sea further on, when I come to 
treat of the development of our knowledge of the north coast 
of Asia. Here I will only state that they actually succeeded, 
after untold exertions, in penetrating from the White Sea to the 
Ob, and that the maps of the land between that river and the 
Petchora, which are still in use, are mainly grounded on the 
work of the great northern expedition, but that the bad repute 
of the Kara Sea also arose from the difficulties to which these 
explorers were exposed, difficulties owing in no small degree 
to the defective nature of the vessels, and a number of mistakes 
which were made in connection with their equipment, the choice 
of the time of sailing, &c. 

Like all distant unknown regions, Novaya Zemlya was of old 
renowned for its richness in the noble metals. The report indeed 
has never been confirmed, and probably was occasioned only by the 
occurrence of traces of ore, and the beautiful gold -glancing film 
of pyrites with which a number of the fossils found here are 
covered; but it has, notwithstanding, given occasion to a number 
of voyages to Novaya Zemlya, of which the first known is that 
of the mate Juschkov, in 1757. As the mate of a hunting- 
vessel he had observed the stones glittering with gold and 
silver, and he succeeded in convincing an Archangel tallow- 
merchant that they indicated great riches in the interior of 
the. e&.rth. In order to get possession of these treasures the 

^ Wifsen^'p. 915. Klingstedt states that fifty soldiers with their wives 
and children were removed in 1648 to Pustosersk, and that the vojvode 
there had so large an income that in three or four years he could ac- 
cumulate 12,000 to 15,000 roubles {Historische Nachrtchten von den 
Samqjeden, &c., p. 53). 




Ti.] NOVAYA ZEMLYA AN ISLAND. 209 

tallow-merchant fitted out a vessel, promising Juschkov at 
the^ same time a reward of 250 roubles for the discovery. 
The whole undertaking, however, led to no result, because the 
discoverer of these treasures died during the passage to 
Novaya Zemlya (Liitke, p. 70). 

Three years after, in 1760,^ a hunting mate, Savva Losch- 
KIN, a native of Olonets, hit on the idea, which was certainly 
a correct one, that the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, which was 
never visited by hunters, ought to be richer in game than other 
parts of the island. Induced by this idea, and proba,bly also by 
the wish to do something extraordinary, he undertook a hunting 
expedition thither. Of this expedition we know only that he 
actually succeeded in travelling round the whole island, thanks 
to the resolution which led him to spend 
on this self-imposed task two winters and 
three summers. It was proved by this 
journey that Novaya Zemlya is actually an 
island, a fact which in the middle of last 
century was still doubted by many 
geographers.^ 

Even after the failure of Juschkov's 
expedition the report of the richness of 
Novaya Zemlya in metals still maintained 

■j Tn 1 T 1 T- 1 ,Q-r» AMMONITE WITH GOLD LUSTRE. 

jtselt, and accordmgly Lieutenant** Koss- ^ xr -7 , 

' ° -^ . , , From Novaya Zemlya. 

MUISLOV was sent out with second mate Ammonites altemans. 

GuBiN, the Polar Sea pilot Tschirakin, "■'• s^^^' 

and eleven men, to search for the sup- 
posed treasures, and at the same time to survey the unknown 
portions of the island. The vessel that was used in this Polar 
Sea voyage must have been a very remarkable one. For 
shortly before the start, leaks, which had to be stopped, were 
discovered at many different places in it, and of its power 
of sailing Rossmuislov himself says : " So long as the wind 
came from the stern the large sail helped us exceedingly well, 
but, as soon as it turned and became a head wind, we were 
compelled to hoist another smaller sail, in consequence of 
which we were driven back to the point from which we came." 
Eossmuislov appears to have been a very skilful man in his 
profession. Without meeting with any obstacle from ice, but 
at all events with difficulty enough in consequence of the 
unsuitableness of the vessel, he arrived at Matotschkin Sound, 

1 According to Liitke, p. 70. Hamel, Tradescant d. dltere, gives the 
date 1742-44. 

^ Thus on the first map in an atlas published in 1737 by the St. Peters- 
burg Academy, Novaya Zemlya is delineated as a peninsula projecting from 
Taimur Land north of the Pjasina. 

^ Properly " Mate, with the rank of Lieutenant," from which we may 
conclude that Rossmuislov wanted the usual education of an officer. 

P 



210 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



which he carefully surveyed and took soundings in. From a 
hish mountain at its eastern mouth he saw on the ^,!!!~^°-' the 

O SOth Aug. 

Kara Sea completely free of ice — and the way to the Yenisej 
thus open ; but his vessel was useless for further sailing. He 
therefore determined to winter at a bay named Tjulanaja Gixba, 
near the eastern entrance to Matotschkin Sound. To this place 
lie removed a house which some hunters had built on the sound 
farther to the west, and erected another house, the materials 
of which he had brought from home, on a headland jutting out 
into the sound a little more to the east. The latter I visited 
in 1876. The walls were then still standing, but the flat roof. 





VIEW FROM MATOTSCHKIN SCHAR. 

(After a drawing by Hj. Theel. 1875.) 



loaded with earth and stones, had fallen in, as is often the case 
with deserted wooden houses in the Polar regions. The house 
was small, and had consisted of a lobby and a room with an 
immense fireplace, and sleeping places fixed to the walls. 

On the jpt^lir, Matotschkin Sound was frozen over, and some 
days after the Kara Sea was covered with ice as far as the eye 
could reach. Storms from the north-east, west, and north-west, 
with drifting snow of such violence prevailed during the course 
of the winter that one could scarcely go ten fathoms from the 
house. In its neighbourhood a man was overtaken by such 
a storm of drifting snow while hunting a reindeer. When he 



VI.] EOSSMUISLOV'S WINTERING, 1768-9. 211 

did not return after two days' absence it was determined to note 
him in the journal as having "perished without burial." 

On the |th April, 1769, there was a storm from the south- 
west, with mist, rain, and hail as large as half a bullet. On the 
„ f ^ ^""" a dreadful wind raged from the north-west, bringing from 

22ud May O ' O O 

the high mountains a " sharp smoke-like air," — it was certainly 
a/67m wind. The painful, depressing effect of this wind is generally 
known from Switzerland and from north-western Greenland. 
At the latter place it rushes right down with excessive violence 
from the ice-desert of the interior. But far from on that 
account bringing cold with it, the temperature suddenly rises 
above the freezing-point, the snow disappears as if by magic 
through melting and evaporation, and men and animals feel 
themselves suffering from the sudden change in the weather. 
Such winds besides occur everywhere in the Polar regions in the 
neighbourhood of high mountains, and it is probably on their 
account that a stay in the hill-enclosed kettle- valleys is in 
Greenland considered to be very unhealthy and to lead to 
attacks of scurvy among the inhabitants. 

The crew remained during the winter whole days, indeed 
whole weeks in succession, in their confined dwellings, carefully 
made tight, without taking any regular exercise in the open air. 
We can easily understand from this that they could not escape 
scurvy, by which most of them appear to have been attacked, 
and of which seven died, among them Tschirakin. It is sur- 
prising that any one of them could survive with such a mode of 
life during the dark Polar night. The brewing of quass, the 
daily baking of bread, and perhaps even the vapour-baths, mainly 
contributed to this. 

On the lyth July the ice on Matotschkin Schar broke up, and 
on the 2i^ August the sound was completely free of ice. An 
attempt was now made to continue the voyage across the Kara 
Sea, and an endeavour was made for this purpose to put the vessel, 
defective from the first, and now still further damaged by ice, in 
repair, by stopping the leaks, as far as possible, with a mixture 
of clay and decayed seaweed. " Floating coffins " have often 
been used in Arctic voyages, and many times with greater success 
than the stateliest man-of-war. This time, however, Rossmuislov, 
after having sailed some few miles eastward from Matotsch- 
kin Sound, in order to avoid certain loss, had to return 
to his winter quarters, where he fortunately fell in with a 
Russian hunter, with whom he commenced his return to 
Archangel. No precious metals were found, nor "any pearl- 
mussels," but Tschirakin confided to Rossmuislov the secret that 
at a certain place on the south coast he had found a block of 
stone of such extraordinary beauty that in the light of day it 
shone with the most splendid fire. After Tschirakin's deatji 

p 2 



212 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [f;ii.\r. 

Rossmuislov sought for the stone, but without success, and he 
therefore broke out in violent reproaches of his deceased 
comrade. I can, however, free him from the blame of deception ; 
for, during my voyage in 1875, I found in several of the blocks 
of schist in the region small veins of quartz, crossing the mass of 
stone. The walls of these veins were covered with hundreds of 
sharply-developed rock crystals with mirror-bright foces. 
Tschirakin's precious stone Avas doubtless nothing else than a 
druse of this shining but valueless mineral. 

Once more, nearly fifty years after Rossmuislov's voyage, in 
the year 1807, a miner, Ludlow, was sent out to investigate more 
thoroughly the supposed richness of the island in meials. He 
returned without having found any ore, but with the first 
accounts of the geological formation of the country ; and we have 
his companion PospJELOV to thank for some careful surveys on 
the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. 

The next expedition to the island was equipped and sent out 
from the naval dockyard at Archangel in 1819 under Lieutenant 
Lasarev, and had, in comparison with its predecessors, very 
abundant resources. But Lasarev was clearly unfit for the task 
he had undertaken, of commanding an Arctic exploratory 
expedition. In the middle of summer many of his creAv were 
attacked by scurvy. Some few weeks after his departure from 
Archangel, at a time when pools of excellent drinking-water are 
to be found on nearly every large piece of drift-ice, and rapid 
torrents of melted snow empty themselves everywhere along the 
coast into the sea, he complains of the difficulty of procuring 
fresh water, &c. The expedition accordingly was altogether 
fruitless. 

Of much greater importance were Captain-lieutenant (after- 
wards Admiral Count) LCtke's voyages to Novaya Zemlya in the 
summers of 1821, 1822, 1823, and 1821, voyages conducted with 
special skill and scientific insight. The narrative of them forms 
one of the richest sources of our knowledge of this part of the 
Polar Sea. But as he did not penetrate in any direction forther 
than his predecessors, an account of these voyages does not enter 
into the plan of the historical part of this work. 

Among Russian journeys the following may be noticed : — 

Those of the mate Ivanov in 1822-28, during which he 
surveyed the coast betAveen the Kara river and the Petchora by 
overland travelling in Samoyed sleighs. 

Pa-CHTUSSOv's voyages in 1832-35.^ W. Brandt, merchant, 

^ Those ronitirkiible voyages were described for the first time, after tlie 
nccounts of Zivolica, by the academician K.E. v. Baer in Bulletin scicnti- 
fique puhl. par r Acad. Imp. des Sciences de St. Pctcrshurf/, t. ii. No. 9, 10, 
11 (1837). Before tliis there does not appear to have been in St. Petersburg 
any knowledge of Pachtussov's voyages, the most remarkable which the 
history of Russian Polar Sea exploration has to show. 



VI.] 



PACHTUSSOV'S VOYAGES. 



213 



and Klokov, chief of the civil service, at Archangel, sent out in 
1832 an expedition with very comprehensive aims from that town, 
for the purpose of re-establishing the sea-route to the Yenisej, 
of surveying the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, and of walrus- 
hunting there. Three vessels were employed, viz., a "carbasse " 
manned by ten men, including the Commander-lieutenant in 
the corps of mates Pachtussov, who in previous voyages with 
Ivanov had become well acquainted with land and people along 




FRIEDRICH BENJAMIN VON lUtKE. 

Born in 1797 in St. Petersburg'. 



tlie coasts of the Polar Sea ; ' the schooner Yenisej under 
Lieutenat Krotov with ten men ; and a hunting lodja com- 
manded by the hunting mate Gwosdarev. Pachtussov was to 
undertake the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, Krotov to sail 

* The carbasse was named, like the vessels of Lusarev and Liitkc, tlie 
Novaya Zemlija. It was forty-two feet long, fourteen feet beam, and six 
feet deep, decked fore and aft, and with the open space between protected 
by canvas from breakers. 



»U THE VOYAQE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

hrough Matotschkin Sound and across the Kara Sea to the 
Yenisej, and Gwosdarev to carry on hunting in order to cover 
part of the costs of the expedition. 

Pachtussov could not penetrate into the Kara Sea, but wintered 
the first time on South Novaya Zemlya in 70° 36' N.L. and 59° 
32' E.L. (Greenwich), in an old house which he found there,'and 
which according to an inscription on a cross in its neighbourhood 
had been built in 1759. This ruinous house was repaired with 
driftwood, which was found in great abundance in that region. 
A separate bath-house was built, and was connected with the 
dwelling-house by a passage formed of empty barrels and 
covered with canvas. Eleven days were spent in putting the 
old house into such repair that it could be occupied. It was 
afterwards kept so warm that the inmates could stay there in 
their shirt-sleeves without freezing. The Commander, clear- 
headed and specially fit for his post as he was, did not permit 
his crew to fall into habits of idleness, dirt, and laziness, but 
kept them to regular work, bathing and change of linen twice 
a week. Every second hour meteorological observations were 
taken. During the whole winter the crew remained in good 
health, but in spring (March) scurvy broke out, notwithstanding 
the precautions that were taken, and two men died of it in May. 
Many times during winter the ice broke up, and at a short 
distance from the land the Kara Sea was open as far as the eye 
could reach. A herd of reindeer numbering about 500 head 
were seen in the end of September; a number of foxes were 
taken in traps, and two Polar bears were killed. Geese were 
seen for the first time in spring on the ^—^ of May. 

Next summer Pachtussov rowed up along the east coast to 
71° 38' N.L. On the west bank of a river, called Savina, he 
found a very good harbour. He found there the remains of a 
hut, with a cross erected beside it, on which was the inscription 

" Savva Th anov 9fch June 1742," which he considered to 

belong to the time of Savva Loschkin's voyage. After his 
return from this boat journey Pachtussov went on board his 
vessel and sailed along the east coast north of Matotschkin Sound 
from the '^^ July to the |^^ August without meeting with any 
obstacle from ice. During this voyage he passed a very good 
harbour in 72" 26' N.L., in a bay, called Ltitke's Bay. Pach- 
tussov then returned through Matotschkin Sound to the Petchora. 
■Even along the east coast of North Novaya Zemlya the sea 
was open, but the stock of provisions, intended at their 
departure from Archangel for fourteen months, was now so 
low, that the gallant Polar explorer could not avail himself 
of this opportunity of perhaps circumnavigating the whole of 
Novaya Zemlya. 

Of the two other vessels that sailed from Archang-el at the 



VI.] PACHTUSSOV'S VOYAGES, 1833-35. 215 

.same time as Pachtussov's, the lodja returned heavily laden 
with the spoils of the chase, but on the other hand nothing 
was ever heard of the Yenisej. A concern, not without 
justification, for its fate, and the desire to acquire as good 
knowledge of the east coast of the North Island as had been 
obtained of that of the South, gave occasion to Pachtussov's 
second voyage. 

For this the Government fitted out two vessels, a schooner and 
a " carbasse," which were named after the two officers of the 
Yenisej, Krotov and Kasakov. The command of the former was 
undertaken by Pachtussov, and of the latter by the mate 
ZivoLKA. This time they wintered in 1834-35 on the south 
side of Matotschkin Sound at the mouth of the river Tschirakina, 
in a house built for the purpose, for which they used, besides 
materials brought with them, the remains of three old huts, 
found in the neighbourhood, and the wreck of Eossmuislov's 
vessel which still lay on the beach. The house was a palace in 
comparison with that in which Pachtussov wintered before. 
It consisted of two rooms, one 21 feet by 16 feet, intended 
for the crew (fourteen men), the other 12 feet by 10 feet, 
for the officers and surgeon, with a bath-house in addition. 
Matotschkin Sound was frozen over for the first time on the |^th 
November. The thermometer never sank below the freezing- 
point of mercury, and the cold of winter could be easily borne, 
because the crew wore the Samoyed dress. But the snow- 
storms were so severe, that sometimes it was impossible for eight 
days at a time to leave the house, which was so snowed up that 
the opening in the roof for smoke had several times to be used 
as a door. The house had no true chimney, but was built like a 
Lapp hut. Eleven of the bears, who came in large numbers 
to the hut, were killed, one of them on the roof and another in 
the porch. During winter the crew were kept in constant em- 
ployment in killing foxes and at other work. Their state of 
health was also very good for the circumstances of the time. 
Only two men died. In spring Matotschkin Sound and part of 
the east coast of the North Island were surveyed by means of 
sledge journeys, after which an attempt was made during summer 
to circumnavigate the North Island, but without success. Light- 
ning accompanied by heavy rain was observed on the j-|th June. 
On the -^ September they sailed back to Archangel. Unfortu- 
nately soon after his arrival there Pachtussov fell ill of nervous 
fever and died on the ^|th November, 1835. It was a great loss^ 
for by his devotion to the task he had undertaken, by judgment, 
courage, and endurance, he takes one of the foremost places 
among the Polar explorers of all countries. Besides, few of the 
older Arctic expeditions have brought home such a series of 
valuable astronomical determinations of position, geodetical 



216 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

measurements, meteorological and tidal observations, &c., as 
Pachtnssov.^ 

In 1837 the famous naturalist K. E. von Baer undertook a 
voyage to Novaya Zemlya, accompanied by Lieutenant ZlvOLKA, 
Lehmann the geologist, Rodee the draughtsman, and Philippov 
the conservator.^ They visited Matotschkin Schar, penetrated 
by boat to its eastern end and found the Kara Sea open, landing 
afterwards at Besimannaja Bay, Nechvatova, and on an island 
in Kostin Schar. The expedition thus nowhere penetrated so 
far as its predecessors, but it is of importance as the first 
examination of the natural history of the Polar Sea surrounding 
Novaya Zemlya carried out by actual men of science. With all 
the respect we must entertain for von Baer's great name as a 
scientific man, it cannot be denied that, through his papers on 
the natural history of the island, grounded on a cursory inspec- 
tion, a number of erroneous ideas regarding the natural 
conditions of the eastern Polar Sea obtained a footing in scien- 
tific literature. 

In order to complete the survey of the island the Russian 
Government sent out in 1838 a new expedition under Lieu- 
tenants Zivolka and Moissejev. They wintered in 1838-39 in 
Melkaja Guba on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in 73° 57' 
N.L. ; but on this occasion Pachtussov's judgment and insight 
were wanting, and the wintering was very unfortunate. Of the 
twenty-five men belonging to the expedition most were attacked 
during winter by scurvy ; nine died, among them Zivolka him- 
self. During spring, excvirsions for the purpose of surveying the 
neighbouring coasts had to be broken off because they had not 
brought snow-glasses with them — a thing that Pachtussov 
did not neglect, being accustomed besides to blacken the under 
eyelid as a protection against the blinding brightness of the 
snow. By the expedition, however, considerable stretches of 
the west coast of Novaya Zemlya were surveyed, and valuable 
contributions to a knowledge of the climatic conditions of this 
region obtained. These turned out to be less severe than had 
been expected. During winter the thermometer never sank 
below — 33° ; in July there were only two nights of frost, and on 
two occasions -|- 18° was observed in the shade; in August there 
were only three hours of frost. All this depends of course on 

^ The details of Paclitussov's voyages are taken partly from von Baer's 
work already quoted, partly from Carl Svenske, Novajja Zemlya, &c., St. 
Petersburg, 1866 (in Russian, published at the expense of M. K. Sidoroft"), 
and J. Sporer, Noioaja Semld in geographischer, naturhistorischer und 
volkswirtlischaftlicher Beziehung, nach den Quellen bearbeitet. Erganz-Hef t. 
No. 21 zu Peterm. Geogr. 3Iittlieiluvgen, Gotha, 1867. 

2 Bulletin scieutijique public par VAcademie Imp. de St. Petersburg, t. ii. 
. (1837), p. 315 ; iii. (1838), p. 96, and other places. ^^^^ 



VI.] 



YON KRUSENSTERN'S VOYAGE. 



217 



the nqigbbourliood of warm marine currents and of a sea open 
all the year round at a short distance from the coast. 

With this unfortunate and to all appearance ill-arranged 
expedition the Russian Novaya Zemlya voyages ceased for a 
long time. For before the beginning of the Norwegian hunting 
we have only two other Russian voyages to notice in our sketcli 
of the history of the North East passage. 

The first of these owed its origin to the desire of the captain 
of a Russian man-of-war, Paul von Keusenstern, to under- 
take a voyage in the Polar Sea in a schooner, the Yermak, 
which belonged to him and which was for the time lying at the 
Petchora, in order to survey the coasts lying to the eastward. 
He intended himself to undertake the command, and to take 




AUGUST KARLOVITZ ZIVOLKA. 

Born in 1810 at Warsaw ; died in 1S3'J on Novaya Zemlya. 
(After a pen-and-ink drawing communicated by Herr Paul Daschkoff.) 



with him as second in command his son Paul von Krusenstern. 
lieutenant in the Russian marine. The latter was sent before 
to equip the Yermak, which he did with wonderful judgment 
and skill, in the best way possible, in a region where at that 
time nearly every requisite for the equipment of a vessel was 
wanting. The elder Krusenstern was unable to reach the place 
of sailing in time, on which account the command was given to 
the son. 

He left the mouth of the Petchora on the -If/Zl I860. 
Three days after he reached the Kara port, which was completely 



218 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



free of ice, as was the sea to the eastward. But the late season 
of the year, the defective equipment of the Yermak, and, it 
would appear, the wording of the orders he had received, 
compelled him to turn after he had penetrated some distance 
into the Kara Sea. On the 5|th September accordingly he was 
again at the Petchora, without having reached his goal. The 
attempt to penetrate eastwards from this river was resumed at 
the instance of MlCHAEL SiDOKOFF, afterwards so well known 
as the restless promoter of sea-communication between Siberia 
and Europe. The Yermak was repaired, along with a decked 
Norwegian pilot-boat, which was named the Emhrio. The 




PAUL VON KRUSENSTERN, JUNIOR. 

Born at Revel in 1834 ; died at Dorpat in 1S71 



command was undertaken by P. von Krusenstern, junior. He 
left the anchorage Kuya on the Petchora on the ^~ August. 
On theJith August, the two small vessels sailed into Yugor 
Schar, after having been long detained during their course by 
storms and head-winds. Some huts erected by hunters were 
seen on the right shore of the sound, and on both sides of it 
Samoyed "chums " (teats of reindeer skin) and reindeer. The 



VI.] VON KEUSENSTERN'S VOYAGE, 1862. 219 

inhabitants had climbed up on the roofs and indicated their 
astonishment by gesticulations. Both vessels anchored in the 
neighbourhood of Vaygats Island. But a couple of hours 
afterwards large masses of ice drove with an altered current into 
the harbour, forced the Yeo-mak from its anchor and carried the 
vessel into the Kara Sea. It was only with great trouble that it 
was released from the ice and anchored in the eastern mouth of 
Yugor Schar. 

On the igth von Krusenstern again weighed anchor, either 




MICHAEL KONSTANTINOVITSCH SIDOROFF. 

Born in 1S23 at Archangel. 



to sail to the eastward or to search for a more secure anchorage 
than that which he had been compelled for the time to make 
use of. But the wind was so light that he could not hold a 
course independent of the currents. It was, therefore, necessary 
to nloor the vessel to a large ice-field, and Avith this the 
Yermak during the following days drifted farther and farther. 
Soon the vessel was completely enclosed by the ice, and thus 
rendered unmanageable. The weather was often fine, the 
thermometer showed + 4°, a strong aerial reflection elevated 



220 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

images of the pieces of ice at the horizon^ and gave them the 
most wonderful and beautiful forms. Everywhere there were 
upon the ice fresh-water pools, some of which were of great 
extent and of no inconsiderable depth. Thus, on the ice-field 
lying nearest the vessel there were different "lakes," one of 
which was used for drinking, another for filling the water-casks, 
a third to supply washing-water to the crew, and a fourth for 
washing their clothes. 

On the ^^1^. the ice began to be pressed together by a light 
W.S.W. wind. Convinced that the vessel would soon be nipped, 
the men on board began to save the stock of provisions and the. 
boats, by placing them on the ice, but the pressure soon ceased. 
There fell a heavy rain, which afterwards, when the wind 
changed to north-west, passed into snow. On the |^^; the 
coast of Yalmal was sighted. A fathom-thick ice-floe shot 
under the vessel and caused it to heel over to starboard. The 
following day there was a storm from the S.S.W. wibh snow 
The ice forcing itself forward shook the vessel several times so 
violently that the crew rushed up to save the provisions, &c., on 
the ice. They were now in the neighbourhood of 70° N.L. and 
65° E.L. (Greenwich), almost right off the mouth of the Kara 
river. The crew worked the whole day with axes and iron bars 
hewing off the sharp projecting corners of the ice-blocks that 
were pressed against the vessel. On the ^^^^^^^ there was warm 
weather with rain. The ice was in so violent motion that it 
was impossible to walk upon it. On the afternoon of the same 
day the Yermah sustained several violent concussions, and the 
hull was lifted one foot. On the ^^ September, a violent storm 
broke out, which drove the vessel to the north-east. It was ex- 
pected every moment that the vessel would be nipped, and a 
tent was accordingly pitched on the ice, in order that part of the 
provisions from the hold might be placed in it. Wood even was 
carried to it. It was Russia's thousand-years' day, and it was 
celebrated with a festive ball and merry songs, although they 
every instant expected their vessel to be crushed by the masses 
of ice that were pressed together by the fearful storm. On the 
^~ September, the stem of the vessel was forced five feet above 
the water-line, and ibhe whole night a continual cracking of 
timbers was heard in the hull. The water rose rapidly to a 
depth of two feet. Every man left the vessel and removed 
to the ice, but soon after the immense ice-field on which the 
tent was pitched went in pieces, while the leak in the vessel 
closed, and the crew in consequence went on board again. On 
the ^ September, the vessel was again pressed so, that the deck 
at times was bent to the form of a vault. On the ^ September, 
von Krusenstern called the crew together that they might 
choose from their number three persons to advise with the 



VI.] VON KRUSENSTERN, 1862. 221 

commander on the best means of making their escape, and two 
days after the vessel was abandoned, after a meal at which the 
crew were literally offered all the house afforded. They then 
broke up for a journey to land, which was exceedingly difficult 
on account of the unevenness of the ice. They were soon 
obliged to leave the boat, which they had at first endeavoured to 
drag along with them 'over the ice, and take the most indis- 
pensable of the provisions on their own backs. On leaving the 
ship a sailor had secretly got possession of so much brandy, that 
during the first day's march he had the opportunity of drinking 
himself dead drunk. To carry him along was not possible, to 
wait was not advisable. He was left therefore to sleep off the 
drink ; and in order that he might do so as soon as possible they 
took off his clothes and left him lying upon the ice with only 
his shirt on. Next day, however, he got up with his comrades 
after following their track in the darkness the whole night. 
Open places were often met with, which the travellers had to 
cross on pieces of drift-ice rowed forward by boat-hooks. Once 
when the shipwrecked men were ferrying themselves over upon 
a piece of ice which was already fully loaded, six walruses were 
seen in the neighbourhood. They showed a disposition to 
accompany the seafarers on the piece of ice, which in that case 
would certainly have sunk, and it was only after a ball had been 
sent through the leader's head that the animals gave up their 
plan for resting, which gave evidence of a gregariousness as 
great as their want of acquaintance with mankind. After 
Krusenstern and his companions had for several days in succes- 
sion drifted backwards and forwards on a piece of ice in the 
neighbourhood of land, and traversed long stretches by jumping 
from one piece of ice to another, they at last reached the shore 
on the ?-gtli September. In the immediate neighbourhood they 
found an encampment, whose inhabitants (Samoyeds) gave the 
shipwrecked men a friendly reception, and entertained them 
with the luxuries of the reindeer herd — raw and cooked reindeer 
flesh, reindeer tongues, reindeer marrow — raw fish and goose- 
fat. After the meal was finished the exhausted wanderers lay 
down to sleep in the Samoyed tents on the soft reindeer skins ; 
" all sorrows and difficulties were forgotten ; we felt a boundless 
enjoyment, as if we had come to paradise." Thence they 
travelled in reindeer sledges to Obdorsk, everywhere received in 
a friendly and hospitable manner by the wild tribes on the way, 
although the hospitality sometimes became troublesome, as for 
instance when an Ostyak compelled von Krusenstern to drink 
tea six times a day, and six cups each time, and offered him 
as a special luxury an extract of tobacco in brandy.^ 

1 Paul von Krusenstern, SJdzsen aus siemniSeemannsleben. Semen Freunden 
gewidmet. Hirschberg in Silesia, without date. 



222 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ohaf. 

Krusentern's adventurous journey across the Kara Sea is one 
of the many proofs that a Polar navigator ought above every- 
thing to avoid being beset. The very circumstance that the 
ice-field, in which he became fixed in the neighbourhood of 
Yugor Schar, could drift across to the east coast of the Kara 
Sea, shows that it was for the most part open, and that a 
steamer or a good sailing-vessel that year, and probably also 
the preceding, might very readily have reached the mouth of 
the Ob or the Yenisej. The narrative of von Krusenstern's 
journey is besides the first complete sketch we have of a passage 
from west to east over the Kara Sea. Little idea could any one 
then have that within a single decade a number of vessels 
should sail free and unhindered along this route. 

Soon after the two voyages I have described above, and 
before they became generally known in the geographical litera- 
ture of Western Europe, a new era began in the navigation of 
the Kara Sea, which was brought about by the Norwegian 
hunters being compelled to seek for new fields of sport on and 
beyond Novaya Zemlya. 

The history of the Spitzbergen hunting has not yet been 
written in a satisfactory way, and is in many respects very 
obscure. It is supposed that after the discovery of Spitzbergen 
in 1596 by Barents, the hunting in the Polar Seas began during 
Bennet's first voyage in 1603, and that the whale-fishing was 
introduced by JoNAS PoOLE in 1610. But already in the follow- 
ing year Poole, whose vessel was then wrecked on the west coast 
of Spitzbergen, found in Horn Sound a ship from Hull, to 
which he gave charge of saving his cargo, and two years after 
the English were compelled, in order to keep foreigners from 
the fishing field they wished to monopolise, to send out six 
men-of-war, which found there eight Spanish, and a number of 
Dutch and French vessels {Purchas, iii. pp. 462, 716, &c.). 
Even in our days the accounts of new sources of wealth do not 
spread so speedily as in this case, unless, along with the history 
of the discovery which was written by Hakluyt, Purchas, De 
Veer, &c., there had been an unknown history of discovery and 
the whale-fishing, of which it may still be possible to collect 
some particulars from the archives of San Sebastian, Dunkirk, 
Hull, and other ports. 

However this may be, it is certain that the English and 
Dutch North-east voyages gave origin to a whale-fishery in the 
sea round Spitzbergen, which increased by many millions the 
national wealth of these rich commercial states. The fishing 
went on at first irhmediately along the coasts, from which, 
however, the whales were soon driven, so that the whale-fishers 
had to seek new fishing-grounds, first farther out to sea between 
Spitzbergen and Greenland, then in Davis' Strait, and finally in 



VI.] 



THE SPITZBERGEN HUNTING. 



22c 



the South Polar Sea, or in the sea on both sides of Behring's 
Straits. 

Spitzbergen, when the whale-fishing ceased in its neighbour- 
hood, was mostly abandoned, until the Russians began to settle 
there, principally for the hunting of the mountain fox and the 
reindeer. Of their hunting voyages we know very little, but 
that they had been widely prosecuted is shown by the remains 




NORWEGIAN HUNTING SLOOP. 

The Proeven, employed by the Swedish Expedition to the Yeuisej in 1875. 



of their dwellings or huts on nearly all the fjords of Spitzbergen. 
They seem to have often wintered, probably because the 
defective build of their vessels only permitted them to sail to 
and from Spitzbergen during the height of summer, and they 
could not thus take part without wmtering in the autumn 
hunting, during which the fattest reindeer are got ; nor could 
the thick and valuable fur of the winter-fox be obtained without 



224 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

wintering.' But the hunting voyages of the Russians to Spitz- 
bergen have also long ceased. The last voyage thither took 
place in 1851-52, and had a very unfortunate issue for most of 
those who took part in it, twelve men dying out of twenty. On 
the other hand, the Norwegian voyages to Spitzbergen for the 
seal and walrus-hunting, begun in the end of last century, still 
go on. Their history, too, is, even here in the North, very 
incompletely known, at least to 1858, when the Swedish scien- 
tific expeditions began regularly to visit those regions, and to 
include in the narratives of their voyages more or less complete 
accounts of the Norwegian hunting, an example that has since 
been followed, though by no means very completely or systema- 
tically, by the editors of Norwegian and foreign journals, in 
the first place by Petermann's Mittluilungen.^ 

Between 1860 and 1870 the game (walrus, seal, bear, and 
reindeer) began to diminish in such a degree that the hunters 
were compelled to seek for themselves new hunting-grounds. 
They turned to the north and east, the less accessible parts of 
Spitzbergen, afterwards still farther eastwards towards Novaya 
Zemlya, and beyond this island to the Kara Sea, and they 
penetrated farther than all their predecessors. In the history 
of the North-east Passage therefore some pages must always be 
devoted to the bold. voyages to Novaya Zemlya of these small 
hunting sloops, provisioned only for the summer. 

The Norwegian hunter who first visited Novaya Zemlya was 
Elling Carlsen, afterwards known as a member of the 
Austrian Polar expedition. In 1868 he sailed in a sloop from 
Hammerfest on a hunting voyage eastward, forced his way into ' 
the Kara Sea through the Kara Port, but soon returned through 
Yugor Scliar, and then sailed northwards as far as Cape Nassau. 
Induced by the abundance of game, he returned next year to the 
same regions, and then succeeded in penetrating the Kara Sea. 
as far as the neighbourhood of Beli Ostrov, whence he returned 
to Norway through Matotschkin Schar. Carlsen's lead was 

^ Information regarding the mode of life of the Russian hunters on the 
coasts of Spitzbergen is to be found in P. A. le Roy, Relation des avantures 
arrivees d quatre mafelots Musses, &c. 1766 ; Tschitschagov's Reisenach dem 
Eismeer, St. Petersburg, 1793; John Bacstrom, Account of a voyage to 
Spitzbergen, 1780, London, 1808 (as stated; I have not seen this work) ; 
B. M. Keilhau, Reise i Ost og Vest Finmarhen, samt til Beeren-Eiland og 
Spetsbergen i Aarene 1827 og 1828, Christiania, 1831 ; A. Erman, Archiv 
filv loissenschaftliche Kunde von Rttssland, Part 13 (1854), p. 260; K. 
Chydenius, Svensha expeditionen till Spetsbergen 1861 (p. 435) ; Duner and 
Nordenskiold, (Si«ens^"c« Expeditioner till Spetsbergen och Jan Mayenl863 och 
1864 (p. 101). 

2 Before 1858 there is to be found in Petermann's Mittheilungen only a 
single notice of the Norwegian Spitzbergen hunting, the existence of 
which was at the time probably known to no great number of European 
geographers. 



VI.] 



JOHANNESEN'S VOYAGE, 1869. 



225 



immediately followed by several Norwegian hunters, one of 
whom, Edward Johannesen, made a very remarkable voyage, 
of which I will here give a brief account. 

Johannesen anchored on the 31st May, 1869, at Meschdu- 
schar Island, without having seen any drift-ice in the course 
of his voyage. He then sailed up along the west coast of 
Novaya Zemlya in nearly open water past Matotschkin Sound 
to Cape Nassau, which was reached on the 19th June. Hence 
he returned, following the coast toward the south, until, on the 
29th June, he sailed throucrh the Kara Port into the Kara Sea. 




LLLING CAltLSEN. 

Born at Tromsoe in 1819. 



This was passed in very open water, and after coming to its 
eastern side he followed the coast of Yalmal towards the north 
to Beli Ostrov. This island was reached on the 7th August, and 
from it he steered south along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya 
to the Kara Port, through which he returned to Norway.^ 

The same year, the English sportsman, Mr. John Palliser^ 
sailed across the Kara Sea, through Matotschkin Schar to Beli 
Ostrov. He returned through Yugor Schar with abundance 

^ The first account of this voj^ag-e was pubHshed in Ofversigt af Svenska 
VetensJcaps-akademimsforhandlingar, 1870, p. 111. 
2 AthencBiim, 1860, p. 498. Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1869, p. 391. 

Q 



220 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

of booty ^ from the hunting-grovinds where formerly the 
walruses tumbled undisturbed among the drift-ice, and where 
the white bear has not yet met his superior.^ 

These voyages are amongst the most remarkable that the 
history of Arctic navigation can show. They at once overturned 
all the theories which, on the ground of an often superficial 
study of preceding unsuccessful voyages, had been set up 
regarding the state of the ice east of Novaya Zemlya, and they 




EDWARD HOLM JOHANNESBN. 

Born in 1844, at Balsfjord Pai'sonnge. 

thus form the starting-point of a new era in the history of the 
North-cast Passage. 

After his return to Norway Johannesen sent to the Academy 
of Sciences in Stockholm a paper on his voyage in 1869, and on 
his hydrographical observations in the Kara Sea, for which he 
received a silver medal. This I was cominissioned to send him, 
and in the correspondence which took place regarding it I on 
one occasion said in jest that a circumnavigation of Novaya 

1 PalHser'a t^ame consisted of 49 wiilnises, 14 Polar boars and 25 
seals ; that of tl\o working hunters was many times £>'rcater. All the 
vessels which went from Tromsoo that year captnrod 805 walruses, 2,302 
seals, 53 -bears, &c. 

- Sidoroff too started in 1869 on a north-cn,st voyag'e in a steamer of his 
own, the George. However, he only reached the Petchora, and the statement 
that went the round of the press, that the George actually i-eached the Ob, 
is thus one of the many mistakes which so readily lind their way into the 
news of the day. 



VI.] NOVAYA ZEMLYA CIRCUJVINAVIGATED. 227 

Zemlya would certainly entitle him to a gold medal from the 
same famous scientific institution that had given him the silver 
medal. I myself travelled the following summer, in 1870, to 
Greenland, and returned thence late in autumn. I then had 
the pleasure of receiving from Captain Johannesen a new paper, 
afterwards inserted in the Ofversigt, of the transactions of the 
Royal Academy of Sciences for the year 1871, p. 157, "Hydro- 
grafiske lakttagelser under en Fangsttour 1870 rundt ora Novaja 
Zemlja." Johannesen now as on the first occasion sailed back- 
wards and forwards along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, 
then through the Kara Port, which was passed on the 12th July. 
He then followed the east coast of Vaygats to Mestni Island, 
where he came in contact with Samoyeds, in connection with 
which he makes the remark, certainly quite unexpected by 
philologists, that in the language of the Samoyeds "certain 
Norwegian words were recognised." Their exterior was not 
at all attractive. They had flat noses, their eyes were dread- 
fully oblique, and many had also oblique mouths. The men 
received the foreigners drawn up in a row, with the women 
in the second rank. All were very friendly. On the 11th 
August he was on the coast of Yalmal in 71° 48' N.L., whence 
he sailed over to Novaya Zemlya in order to take on board wood 
ond water. He anchored in the neighbourhood of Udde Bay in 
73° 48' N.L., and saw there twenty wild reindeer. Then he 
sailed again over the Kara Sea to Yalmal. 

During these cruisings in the Kara Sea the summer had 
passed. Johannesen's vessel was now full, but notwithstanding 
this he determined, at a season of the year when the walrus- 
hunters commonly return to Norway, to see whether the offered 
prize could not be won into the bargain. The course was shaped 
first to the north-east, then westward to the north coast of 
Novaya ZemJya, which was reached on the 3rd September. The 
whole sea here was open, which Johannesen, on the ground 
of finding Norwegian fishing-net floats among the driftwood, 
attributed to the action of the Gulf Stream. Hence he returned 
to Norway, after having completed a voyage which some years 
before all geographical authorities would have considered an 
impossibility. I need scarcely mention that the Academy in 
Stockholm redeemed the promise which one of its members had 
given without the necessary authority. Johannesen was then 
twenty-six years old. Son of a skilful hunter, he had from his 
childhood taken part in Arctic voyages, and thus grown up in 
the employment to which he had devoted himself 

The same year several other walrus-hunters also made remark- 
able voyages in the Kara Sea. Captain E. A. XJlve first sailed 
along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya to 76° 47' N.L., then 
back to Matotschkin Schar, through which he passed on the 

Q 2 



228 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

7th and 8tli August into the Kara Sea, which was completely 
free of ice, with the exception of some few very scattered pieces. 
After sailing backwards and forwards in different directions in 
the Kara Sea, he returned through the Kara Port on the 24th 
August. Captain F. E. Mack made a similar voyage. He 
sailed from the 28th June to the 8th July northwards along the 
west coast of Novaya Zemlya, which was free of ice between the 
Petchora and the Admiralty peniasula, where fast ice was 
found, and fourteen sailing vessels and two steamers were now 
assembled. On the 8th and 9th June thunder was heard here. 
From the Admiralty peninsula Mack sailed again, first to the 
south, and then, on the 18th July, through Matotschkin Sound 
into the Kara Sea, which was nearly free of ice. Captain P. 
Quale, again, and A. O. Nedrevaag, sailing master, penetrated 
through Yugor Sound into the Kara Sea, and sailed there to 
75° 22' N.L., and 74° 35' E.L..(Greenwich).i 

Also in 1871 a number of walrus-hunters made remarkable 
voyages in the Kara Sea. Of these, however, only one. Mack, 
in the schooner Pole Star, penetrated eastwards farther than all 
his predecessors. On the 14th June he sailed into the Kara 
Sea through the Kara Port, but found the sea still covered with 
continuous fast ice, from 1*8 to 2 metres in thickness. He 
therefore turned and sailed northwards along the west coast of 
Novaya Zemlya to the Gulf Stream Islands (76'' 10' N.L. ), 
where he remained till the 3rd of August. The temperature 
of the air rose here to + lO'^'S. The name, which the Norwegian 
walrus-hunters have given these islands, owes its origin to the 
large number of objects from southern seas which the Gulf 
Sti-eam carries with it thither, as floats from the Norwegian 
fisheries, with their owner's m.arks frequently recognisable by 
the walrus-hunters— beans of Entada gigalohium from the West 
Indies, pumice-stone from Iceland, fragments of wrecked vessels, 
&c. On the 3rd of August Mack passed the northernmost 
promontory of Novaya Zemlya. Hence he sailed into the Kara 
Sea, where at first he fell in with ice. Farther on, however, the 
ice disappeared completelv, and Mack on the 12th of September 
reached 75° 25' N.L. and 82° SO' E.L. (Greenwich) accord- 

■^ Petermann's Miftheilungen, 1871, p. 97. Along with Ulve's, Mack's, 
and Quale's voyages, Petermann refers to a voyage round Novaj^a Zemlya 
by. T. Torkildsen. In this case, however, Petermann was exposed to a 
possibly iTnintended deception. Torkildsen, who visited the Polar Sea for 
the first time in 1870, indeed made the voyage round Novaya Zanilya, but 
only as a rescued man on Johannesen's vessel. Torkildsen's own vessel, the 
Alfa, had been wrecked on the 13th July at the bottom of Kara Bay, after 
which the skipper and six men were saved by Johannesen, yet hy no 
means so that Torkildsen, as is stated by Petermann, had the least com- 
mand of the vessel that saved him. (Of. Tromsoe StifMldende 1871, 
No. 23.) 



VI] CARLSEN'S VOYAGE. 229 

ing to Petermann, but 81° 11' Long, according to the Tronisoe 
Stiftstidende. He returned through 'Yugor Schar, which was 
passed on the 26th September.^ The same year E. Johannesen, 
after long endeavouring without success to make his way into 
the Kara Sea through the southern strait, sailed northwards 
along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, and did not leave Cape 
Nassau until the 15th October. 

From the same year too Petermann also publishes very 
remarkable journals of the Norwegian walrus-hunting captains, 
S. ToBiESEN, H. Ch. Johannesen, J. N. Isaksen, Soren 
Johannesen, Doerma, Simonsen, and E. Carlsen ; but as none 
of these gallant seamen that year penetrated to the north or 
east beyond the points which their predecessors had reached, 
I may be allowed with regard to their voyages to refer to 
MiWuikmgen for 1872 (pp. 386—391 and 395), also to the 
maps which are inserted in the same volume of that journal 
(pi. 19 and 20), and which are grounded on the working out by 
Prof. H. MoHN, of Christiania, of his countrymen's observations. 
With respect to Captain E. Carlson's voyage, however, it may 
be stated, that in the course of it a discovery was made, which 
has been represented as that of an Arctic Pompeii, remarkably 
well protected against the depredation of the tooth of Time, not 
indeed by lava and volcanic ashes, but by ice and snow. For 
when Carlsen on the 9th September landed on the north-east 
coast of Novaya Zemlya in 76" 7' N.L., he found there a house, 
10 metres long and 6 metres wide, with the roof fallen in, long 
since abandoned and filled with gravel and ice. From this 
frozen gravel were dug up a large number of household articles, 
books, boxes, &c., which showed that they were relics of Barents' 
winter dwelling, which now, almost three hundred years after 
the place had been abandoned, came to the light of day, so well 
preserved that they gave a lively idea of the way in which the 
European passed his first winter in the true Polar regions. 
When Carlsen had erected a cairn in which he placed a tin 
canister containing an account of the discovery, he took on 
board the most important of the articles which he had found 
and returned to Norway. There he sold them at first for 10,800 
crowns to an Englishman, Mr. Ellis C. Lister Kay, who after- 
wards made them over for the price he had paid for them to the 
Dutch Government. They are now to be found arranged at the 
Marine Department at the Hague in a model room, which is an 
exact reproduction of the interior of Barents' house on Novaya 
Zemlya.^ 

^ Tromsoe Stiftsiidende, 1871, 'No. 83; Tetermann's 3Iittheilungen, 1812, 
p. 384. 

^ Of. The Three Voyages of William Barents, by Gerrit de Veer, 2nd 
Edition, with an Introduction by Lieutenant Koolemans Beynen. London, 
1876 (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, No. 54). 



230 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

After Carlsen, Barents' winter haven was visited in tlie year 
1875 by the Norwegian walrus-hunter, M. Gundersen, who 
among other things found there a broken chest containing two 
maps and a Dutch translation of the narrative of Pet's and 
Jackman's voyages, and in the year 1876 by Mr. Chaeles 
Gardiner, who through more systematic excavations succeeded 
in collecting a considerable additional number of remarkable 
things, among which were the ink-horn and the pens which the 
Polar travellers had used nearly three centuries ago, and a 
powder-horn, containing a short account, signed by Heemskerk 
and Barents, of the most important incidents of the expedition. 
Gundersen's find is still, as far as I know, at Hammerfest ; 
Gardiner's has been handed over to the Dutch Government to 
be preserved along with the other Barents relics at the Hague. 

In 1872 the state of the ice both north of Spitzbergen and 
round JNovaya Zemlya was exceedingly unfavourable,^ and several 
of the scientific expeditions and hunting vessels, which that 
year visited the Arctic Ocean, there underwent severe calamities 
and misfortunes. Five of the best hunting vessels from 
Tromsoe were lost in the ice ; the Swedish expedition, which 
that year started for the north, could not, as was intended, erect 
its winter dwelling, on the Seven Islands, but was compelled to 
winter at the more southerly Mussel Bay ; and the Austriaii 
expedition under the leadership of Payer and Weyprecht was 
beset by ice a few hours after its campaign had commenced in 
earnest. It is well known how this carefully equipped expedition 
afterwards for two winters in succession drifted about in the 
Polar Sea, until it finally came to a standstill at a previously un- 
known land lying north of Novaya Zemlya, which was named 
after the Austrian Emperor, Franz Josef These two expeditions, 
however, did not touch the territory of the Vegas voyage, on 
which account I cannot here take any further notice of them.^ 
But the same year a wintering took place on the west coast ,of 
Novaya Zemlya, of which I consider that I ought to give a 
somewhat more detailed account, both because in the course of 
it one of the most gallant Polar voyagers of Norway met his 

^ The sea in the neighbourhood of Spitzbergen on the east was on the 
other hand very open that year, so that it was possible for the same time 
to reach and circumnavigate the large island situated to the east of Spitz- 
bergen, which had been seen in 1864 by Dun^r and me from the top of 
White Mount in the interior of Stor Fjord. 

2 Nor does space permit me to give an account of various expeditions, 
which indeed concerned Novaya Zemlya, but did not penetrate farther 
eastward than their predecessors; for instance, the Rosenthal expedition of 
1871, in which the well-known African traveher and Spitzbergen voyager 
Baron vonHeuglin, and the Norwegian botanist Aage Aagaard, took part 
as naturalists ; Payer and Weyprecht's voyage of reconnaissance in the 
sea between Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya in 1871, &c. 



VI.] 



TOBIESEN'S WINTEEING ON KOVAYA ZEMLYA. 



2ri 



fate, and because it shows us various new, hitherto untouched 
sides of winter life in the High North. 

SiVERT ToBlESEN was one of the oldest and boldest of the 
Norwegian walrus-hunting skippers ; he had with life and soul 
devoted himself to his calling, and in it was exposed to many 
dangers and difficulties, which he knew how to escape through 
courage and skill. In 1864 he had sailed round the north- 
eastern part of North-east Land, and had been very successful 
in hunting ; but as he was about to return home, his vessel was 
beset by ice near the southern entrance to Hinloopen Strait, 
where the same fate also overtook two other hunting sloops, one 




SIVEB'l I I I II I I II SEN. 

Born at Tromsoe in 1821, died on Kovaya Zemlya iii 1873. 



of them commanded by the old hunting skipper Mattilas, who 
in the winter of 1872-73 died in a tent at Grey Hook, the 
other by the skipper J. AstrOm. They were compelled to save 
themselves in boats, in which they rowed through Hinloopen 
Strait to the mouth of Ice Fjord, where the shipwrecked crews 
were met and saved by the Swedish expedition of 1864. He 
passed the winter of 1865-66 happily, in a house built for the 
purpose on Bear Island, and communicated to the Swedish 
Academy of Sciences a series of valuable meteorological observa- 
tions, made during the wintering.^ After 1868 he had madp 

■^ Kongl. Svenska Vetenshaps-alxidemiens handlmgar, 1869. 



232 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



several successful voyages to ITovaya Zemlya, some of which 
were also remarkable from a geographical point of view, and in 
1872 he was also on a hunting expedition to the same regions. 
As he could not enter the Kara Sea, he sailed up along the west 
coast, where in the middle of September he was beset in the 
neighbourhood of the Cross Islands. Hence seven of the crew 
travelled south in a boat to seek for a vessel, but Tobiesen him- 
self, his son and two men, remained on board. Their stock of 
provisions consisted of only a small barrel of bread, a sack of 
corners and fragments of ship biscuit, a small quantity of coffee, 
tea, sugar, syrup, groats, salt meat, salt fish, a few pounds of 
pork, a couple of tin canisters of preserved vegetables, a little 




TOBIESEN S WINTER HOUSE ON BEAR ISLAND, 

, (After a sketch by the Author.) 



bad butter, &c. There was abundance of wood on board and 
on the land. Notwithstanding the defective equipment they 
went on bravely and hopefully with the preparations for winter- 
ing, gathered drift-wood in heaps on the beach, threw a tent of 
sails over the vessel, threw up snow about its sides, covered the 
deck with the hides of the seals and walruses that had been 
captured during summer, did what could be done to bring 
about good ventilation on board, &c. A large number of 
bears came to the winter station at the commencement of 
the wintering, affording an abundant supply of fresh bears' 
flesh. So long as this lasted, the health of the party was 



VI.] AN ADVENTUEOUS JOUENEY. 233 

good, but when it came to an end at the new year, their 
food for three weeks consisted mainly of ill-smelling salt bears' 
flesh. Tobiesen and one of the men were now taken ill. 
The cold sank to - 391° C.^ On the 29th April, 1873, 
Tobiesen died of scurvy. In the month of May his son was 
also attacked, and died on the 5th July. The two men also 
suffered from scurvy, but recovered. They rowed south in the 
month of August, and were rescued by a Russian hunting- 
vessel. 

The seven men, the harpooner Henrik Nilsen, Ole Andreas 
Olsen, Axel Henriksen, Amandus Hansen, Nils Andreas Foxen, 
Johan Andersson and Lars Larsen, who rowed away in autumn, 
had an exceedingly remarkable fate. When they left the vessel 
they could only take with them fourteen ship biscuits, six boxes 
of lucifers, two guns, with ammunition, a spy-glass, a coffee- 
pot and an iron pot, but no winter clothes to protect them from 
the cold. At first, in order to get to open water, they had to 
drag the boat about seven kilometres over the, ice. They then 
steered southwards along the land. The journey was made 
under circumstances of great difficulty and privation. The 
darkness and cold increased, as did the storm, and what was 
worst of all their stock of provisions was very soon consumed. 
On the second day, however, they were fortunate enough to 
shoot a bear ; afterwards they also succeeded in killing a pair 
of seals. Finally, after having partly rowed and partly sailed 
about three weeks (they had no almanac with them), and tra- 
velled nearly 400 kilometres, they came to two small hunting or 
store houses, which the Russians had built on the north side of 
Gooseland. In order to have at least a roof over their heads 
the exhausted men settled there, though in the house they 
found neither food, clothes, nor hunting implements. They 
were all much enfeebled by hunger, thirst, cold, and the long 
boat journey ; their feet were swollen and partly frost-bitten. 

They remained in the house three weeks, and during that 
time shot a seah two Vv'hite foxes, and four reindeer, with which 
they kept in their lives ; but as it appeared that there were no 
more reindeer to be had, and there were no more opportunities 
of shooting seals or reindeer, they determined to leave the 
house and endeavour to get to Vaygats Island. When they 
broke up, Ole Andreas Olsen and Henrik Nilsen took the guns 
and ammunition, while the other five commenced the journey 
with some small sledges they had found at the house, on which 
they loaded what they had of clothes and other articles. The 

^ At Mussel Bay, too, during the winter of 1872-73, the greatest degree 
of cold was the same ; that is to say, at neither place did it reach the 
freezing-point of mercury. At the Vega's winter station, on the contrary. 
it was considerably greater. 



234 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

boat was left behind. Soon after they left the house Ole 
Andreas Olsen and Henrik Nilsen were separated in a snow- 
storm from the others who drew the sledges. The latter now 
agreed to determine by lot whether they should return to the 
house or continue their journey, and when the lot fell for the 
latter they allowed it to settle the matter, and so went south.^ 

Their position was now desperate in the extreme. When 
they left the house they had about half a pound of reindeer 
flesh and a little blubber remaining. The weather was dread- 
ful; they were badly clothed, and they wanted water. In con- 
sequence they could make only very short days' marches. At 
night they buried themselves in the snow, and while the rest 
slept, one man kept constant watch, to prevent the others from 
being snowed up and to keep the bears at a distance. They all 
held out till the sixth night. Then Amandus Hansen died. 
The rest were compelled to leave him in the snow and continue 
their journey as well as they could, but they had by degrees 
become so weak and exhausted that, after having traversed 
probably about 100 kilometres, for the most part along the 
coast, they had to leave even the sledges and the most of what 
they had with them. The seventh or eighth day they caught 
sight of a little pile of fuel, and the track of a sledge in the 
snow. By following this track for about ten kilometres they 
found a small house, inhabited by Samoyeds, who immediately 
gave them a friendly reception, and entertained them in the 
most hospitable way. In particular they showed much kindness 
to Nils Andreas Foxen, whose toes were frost-bitten, and who 
was in other respects much enfeebled. 

These Samoyeds, three men, three women, and a boy, spoke 
Russian. They had settled for the winter on the south part of 
Gooseland to shoot the seal and the walrus. They had with 
them a large barge, besides some small Samoyed boats, and were 
comparatively well provided with reindeer flesh, meal, tea, 
sugar, &c. Their guns were old flint-lock fowling-pieces, but 
they were good shots. With these Samoyeds the four ship- 
wrecked men remained the whole winter, and were tolerably 
well off. When the weather permitted they assisted the 
Samoyeds in capturing seals, and when the weather was bad they 
passed the time as well as they could, the Samoyeds generally 
employing themselves in playing cards or draughts. In order 
to avoid scurvy the Samoyeds often took exercise in the open 
air, and ate reindeer flesh, partly cooked and partly raw, and 
drank the blood. They lived in the house until March was well 
advanced, when, for want of fuel, they were obliged to hew it 

1 It is very common that the hunters in cases of importance and danger, 
when it is difficult to settle what course ought to be taken, permit the 
drawing of lots to determine the choice. 



VI.] LOST. 235 

down. Instead they removed into a tent of reindeer skin. 
These Samoyeds appear to have been Christians in name, 
though they must have had strange ideas of their new God. 
When, for instance, they saw a seal and missed shooting it, they 
shot at the sun, because they behoved that God was angry 
with them. They lived in a sort of marriage, but if the man 
became unfriendly to the woman, or tired of her, he could 
take another ; they had no clocks, but, notwithstanding, had a 
tolerably good idea of time by the help of the stars and the 
sun ; instead of an almanac they used a piece of wood, in which 
for every day they cut a notch. Although they sometimes 
quarrelled with and threatened one another, they were, however, 
on the whole friendly, and reasonable, and showed niuch kind- 
ness to the four shipwrecked men, whom they provided with 
warm skin clothes, and during the whole time with food in 
abundance, according to their circumstances, so that they did 
not suffer any want, 

Ole Andreas Olsen and Henrik Nilsen had, when they were 
separated in the snowstorm from the sledge party, half a pound 
of flesh and their guns, and nothing more. They did not 
succeed in finding any game, and though they were not very 
far from the house, they required three days and a half to get 
back to it. In the meantime, also, these two comrades in mis- 
fortune had been separated. Henrik Nilsen found the house 
first, lighted a fire, roasted and ate some pieces of fox flesh that 
he found remaining. Ole Andreas Olsen, who in desperation 
had endeavoured to quench his thirst with sea-water, was so 
weak that, when late at night he came to the boat, he could not 
crawl up to the house. He had kept himself in life by eating 
snow and devouring large pieces of his " pesk," which was 
made of the raw hides of reindeer he had previously shot. 
After having lain a while in the boat he crept up to the house, 
where he found Henrik sleeping by the fire, which was not yet 
quite extinguished. The following day they both began to 
make arrangements for a lengthened stay in the house. But 
here they found nothing, neither food, household furniture, nor 
aught else. Nor did they succeed at first in getting any game ; 
and for more than a fortnight they sustained life by boiling and 
gnawing the flesh from the bones of the reindeer, the seal, and 
the bear, that lay under the snow, remains from the Eussian 
hunting excursions of the preceding year. Finally, befor(i 
Christmas they succeeded in killing a reindeer. Their lucifers 
were now done, but they lighted a fire by loading their guns with 
a mixture of which gunpowder formed a part, and firing into 
old ropes, left behind by the Russians, which they picked 
asunder and dried. One of the Russian huts they tore down 
and used as fuel. They had neither axe nor saw, but they split 



•23() THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

up the fuel by means of a piece of iron, which they took from 
the keel of the boat, and of which they made, by hammering 
with stones, a sort of knife. Of some nails, which they also 
took from the boat, they likewise forged needles by means of 
stones ; they used reindeer sinews for thread, and of the hides 
they sewed clothes for themselves. They lived in the hut until 
some time in April. During this time they shot eleven rein- 
deer and a bear, so that they did not actually suffer hunger; but 
in the middle of April they had powder remaining for only 
three shots, and they now saw the impossibility of supporting 
themselves longer at that place, wherefore they determined to 
go farther south, in order, if possible, to reach Vaygats Island. 
They went by land along the sea-shore, leaving the boat behind. 
After the lapse of some days they came to the same Samoyeds 
with whom the other four of the crew were, and they now re- 
mained till the middle of June, with the Samoyeds, who gave 
them the same hospitable treatment as their companions in 
misfortune. When at the time specified it was determined to 
fetch the boat from the Russian hut, in order that they might 
make their way southwards, Johan Andersson, a Swede by 
birth, declared that he wished to remain with the Samoyeds, 
and was not willing to accompany the other five on their 
homeward journey. 

The latter now dragged the boat for two days over the ice ; 
but when it became too heavy they had to cut it through the 
middle and leave a half behind. Of a large sealskin, which 
they got from the Samoyeds, they made a stern to the other 
half, which they continued to drag over the ice for three days, 
until they came to open water. Then they rowed in the 
truncated boat ten days, until they reached a fast ice-border at 
the Vaygats Island, where they again fell in with Samoyeds. 
Even by these, who could speak neither Russian nor Quaen, and 
by whom they could with difficulty make themselves under- 
stood, they were well received. They remained there eight 
days and got good entertainment. These Samoyeds had tame 
reindeer, with which they sent the shipwrecked men on their 
way southwards, till they fell in with a vessel, with which four 
returned to Norway. Lars Larsen now did not wish to go 
home, preferring to remain with the Samoyed family which he 
had last met with. Samoyed life, however, must not be so 
pleasant after all, for in a year or two both the men who had 
remained among the Samoyeds returned home. As a reward 
for the hospitality w^hich the shipwrecked walrus-hunters had 
received from the Samoyeds on Gooseland, the Norwegian 
Government presented them with a number of gifts, consisting 
of clothes, pearls, breechloaders, with ammunition, &c., which 
were handed over to them with festive speeches and toasts on 



VI.] THE VOYAGE OF THE PROEVEN, 1875. 237 

the >l7tli July, 1880. During the entertainment which took 
place on this occasion on the coast of Novya Zemlaya, toasts 
were drunk in champagne, and it is said that this liquor was 
very much relished by the Samoyeds.^ 

As little as Tobiesen could any other walrus-hunter make his 
way, either in 1872 or 1873, into the Kara Sea, the entrances of 
which were during these summers blocked by a compact belt of 
ice, which extended along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya and 
Vaygats Island to the mainland. In the belief of a large 
number of experienced walrus-hunters, with whom I have 
conversed on the subject, this belt of ice was only some few 
nautical miles broad, and it is therefore probable that even in 
those years there would have been no obstacle to prevent a 
passage eastwards by this route in autumn. 

In 1874, on the contrary, the state of the ice became very 
favourable, and many walrus-hunters again as formerly sailed 
in all directions across the Kara Sea, which this year was also 
visited by an Englishman, Captain J. WiGGlNS. None of them, 
however, penetrated farther to the east or north than Johannesen, 
Carlsen, Mack, and others had done during the years 1869-70. 

It was not until the following year that the North-east 
voyages took a step forward, important both in a purely 
geographical as well as a practical point of view, when I 
succeeded in a walrus-hunting sloop, the Proeven, commanded 
by the walrus-hunting Captain Isaksen, in sailing through 
Yugor Straits, which were passed on 2nd August, and over the 
nearly ice-free Kara Sea as far as to the mouth of the Yenisej. 
The Proeven anchored there on the 15th August 1875, in, or 
more correctly immediately off, the same splendid haven where 
the Vega expedition lay at anchor from the 6th to the 10th 
August, 1878. Hence I sailed under various difficulties along 
with Dr. Stuxberg and Dr. Lundstrom and three men in a 
Nordland boat, up the river to Saostrovskoj, where we fell in 
with a steamer, in which we afterwards travelled to Yenisejsk. 
On leaving Port Dickson I handed over the command to Dr. 
Kjellman, who along with Dr. Theel returned by sea to Europe 
across the Kara Sea and through Matotschkin Schar, which 
was passed during the return voyage on the 4th to the 11th 
September. 

By this voyage of 1875 I was the first who succeeded in 
penetrating from the Atlantic Ocean in a vessel to the mouths 
of the great Siberian rivers. One of the objects which the old 

^ The statements made here regarding- the wintering of Tobiesen and 
his companions are taken partly from a copy which I caused to be made of 
his journal, partly from an account of the adventures of the seven hunters, 
copied from Finmarhsposten into Aftonhladet for 1873, No. 220. Finally, 
the account of the distribution of presents to the Samoyeds is copied from 
Norwegian journals into Aftonhladet iox 1880, No. 197. 



238 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Nortli-east voyagers had aimed at was thus at last accomplished, 
and that in a way that promised to be of immense practical 
importance for the whole of Siberia. The voyage was also 
regarded in that light by leading men in the great empire of 
the East, and our return journey from Yenisejsk by Krasnojarsk, 
Tomsk, Omsk, Yekaterineburg, Nischni-Novgorod, Moscow and 
St. Petersburg, became therefore a journey from fi,U to f&te. 
But a number of voices were simultaneously raised, which 
asserted that the success of the Proeven depended on an 
accidental combination of fortunate circumstances, which would 
not soon occur again. In order to show that this was not the 
case, and that I might myself bring the first goods by sea to 
Siberia, I undertook my second voyage to the Yenisej in 1876, 
in which I penetrated with the steamer Fmer, not only to the 
mouth of the river, but also up the river to the neighbourhood 
of Yakovieva in 71° N.L. Hence I returned the same year by 
sea to Europe.^ In the gulf of Yenisej a large, island was 
discovered, which I named after Mr. Alexander Sibiriakoff, who 
defrayed the principal expenses of the expedition. Before 
starting on this voyage, I visited the Philadelphia Exhibition, 
and it may perhaps deserve to be mentioned, that leaving 
New York on the 1st July by one of the ordinary steamers, 
and going on board my own vessel in Norway, I reached 
the mouth of the Yenisej on the 15th August, that is to say, 
in forty-six days. 

The same year Captain Wiggins also imdertook a voyage to 
the Yenisej, in which he penetrated with a steamer up the 
river beyond the labyrinth of islands lying between 70° and 
71° N.L. The vessel wintered there, but was lost the following 
spring at the breaking up of the ice.^ 

The voyages of the Proeven and the Ymer led to several 
purely commercial voyages to the Yenisej and the Ob, of which 
however I can here with the greatest brevity mention only 
the following: 

The Swedish steamer Fraser, commanded by the German 
Captain Dallmann, after having been fitted out at Gothenburg 
on Sibiriakoff's account, sailed in 1877 with a cargo from Bremen 

1 The dates of the Yvier's voyage are as follows: — Left the coast of 
Norway on the 26th July ; stay at Matotschkin Sound, through which I, 
on this occasion, steamed into the Kara Sea from the 30th July to the 
5th August ; arrival at the Yenisej on the 15th August ; arrival at the 
anchorage at Goltschicha on the 16th August ; commenced the return 
voya'ge on the 1st September, in the course of it passed Matotschkin Schar 
on the 7th September. 

^ Of Captain "Wiggins' voyage I know only that his original destination 
was the Ob, but that on account of currents and shoals which he 
encountered at the mouth of this river, he altered his plan, and reached 
the Yenisej in the beginning of September. 



VI.] 



SCHWANENBERG'S VOYAGE. 



239 



to the Yenisei and back. The vessel left Hammerfest on the 
9 th August, arrived at Goltschicha on the 21st August, com- 
menced the return voyage on the 14th September, and on 
the 24th of the same month was back at Hammerfest. 

The steamer Louise commanded by Captain Dahl, with 
a cargo of iron, olive oil, and sugar, the same year made 
the first voyage from England to Tobolsk, starting from 
Hull on the 18th July and arriving at Tobolsk on the 20th 
September.^ 

Captain ScHWANENBERG sailed in a half-decked sloop, the 
JJtrennaja Saria, from the Yenisej to Europe. To what has 




JOSEPH WIGGINS. 



been already said of this voyage, I may here add a few words 



more. 



During the inundation in the spring of 1877, which com- 
pelled the mate Nummelin to betake himself for eight days to 
the roof of the fragile dwelling in which he had passed the 
winter, the Yenisej sk-built vessel, the Aurora (or Sewernoe Sicmie) 
was lost. Schwanenberg, who soon afterwards came to the 
neighbourhood, succeeded in purchasing from an Englishman, 
Mr. Seebohm, another little vessel, which was also built at 

^ Deutsche Geographische Blatter, Bremen, 1870, i. p. 216, and ii. p. 35, 



240 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAP. 



Yenisejsk by Mr. Boiling for the purpose of transporting thither 
the goods which I had carried in the Ymer to Korepovskoj, a 
simovie on the bank of the Yenisej in 71° 19' N.L. The 
goods however had been taken up the river by a steamer, on 
which account the vessel was sold by Boiling to Mr. Seebohm, 
who made an excursion in it to the lower courses of the 
Yenisej for ornithological researches. He named the vessel the 
Ibis. When Mr. Seebohm no longer required it, there was at 
first a proposal that it should be taken over by Captain Wiggins, 
who, as has been already stated, had the year before come to 




DAVID IVANOVnSCH SCHWANENBEBG. 

Born ill Courland in 1831. 



the Yenisej with a small steamer, which wintered at the islands 
in the river, and had now stranded during the breaking up of 
the ice. He wished to carry his men on the Ibis either home 
or to the Ob, but the English seamen declared that they would 
not for all the world's honour and riches sail in that vessel. 
Schwanenberg had thus an opportunity of purchasing the 
vessel, whose name he altered to the Utrennaja Saria (the 
Daiun), and to the surprise of all experienced seamen he 
actually made a successful passage to Norway. The vessel 
was then towed along the coast to Gothenburg, and through 



vr.] THE FIRST VOYAGE FROM YENISEJSK TO EUROPE. 241 

the Gofca Canal to Stockholm, and finally crossed the Baltic 
to St. Petersburg. 

On the 13th August Schwanenberg hoisted the Russian flag 
on his little vessel. During his outward passage he met, in the 
mouth of the Yenisej, Sibiriakoff's steamer the Fraser, Captain 
Dallmann, who in vain endeavoured to dissuade him from pro- 
secuting the adventurous voyage. He anchored at Beli Ostrov 
on the 24th August, passed the Kara Port on the 30th August, 
and reached Vardoe on the 11th September. The Utrennaja 




GUSTAP ADOLF NUMMELIN. 

Bom at Viborg in 1S53. 



Saria arrived at Christiania on the 31st October, at Gothenburg 
on the 15th November, passed Motala on the 20th, reached 
Stockholm on the 23rd November and St. Petersburg on the 
3rd December. Everywhere in Scandinavia the gallant seamen 
met with the heartiest reception. Their vessel was the first 
that sailed from the town of Yenisejsk to Europe, and is still, 
when this is being written, the only one. 

The Dawn is 56 feet long, 14 feet beam, and draws 6 feet of 
water. Aft there is a little cabin in which there is scant space 



242 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. VI. 

for three men. Cooking is done in the fore. The cargo con- 
sisted of a small quantity of graphite, fish, furs, and other 
samples of the products of Siberia. 

The vessel was manned by Captain Schwanenberg, the mates 




THE SLOOP UTRENNAJA SARIA. 



Nummelin and Meywaldt, and two exiled criminals, who in this 
unexpected way returned to their native country. I take it for 
granted that by the rare nautical exploit they took pai't in, they 
there won forg-iveness for former offences. 



D 1 ( Is S () A 
I S !, A -N i) 



,r|?^ ''■ 



MAP 
of 

PORT DICKSON 

by 

G . Bove. 

Vega Expedition tiLB6^10V'Aug.l878. 

KMum. 
-6 feet 

Trade OF OuVig. 

Scale-hzooooo 



'r|fii;" '^^::' 



Map of Cape BOLVAM c m •Way giaa rslaiid. 




Tholenaatrad inMALYGIN SOUND bf^ Hovgaard 




Map or CAPE CHELYUSKIN byG.linvc. 





Map of CAPE CH£LYUSKIN byG.Bove. 




CHAP. VII.] DEPAETUEE FEOM POET DICKSON. 243 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Departure from Port Dickson — Landing on a rocky island east of tha 
Yenisej — Self-dead animals — Discovery of crystals on the surface of 
the drift-ice — Cosmic dust — Stay in Actinia Bay — Johannesen's dis- 
covery of the island Ensamheten — Arrival at Cape Chelyuskin — The 
natural state of the land and sea there — Attempt to penetrate right 
eastwards to the New Siberian Islands — The effect of the mist — 
Abundant dredging-yield — Preobraschenie Island — Separation from the 
Lena at the mouth of the river Lena. 

When on tlie morning of the 9th August the Fraser and 
Express sailed for the point higher up the river where their 
cargo was lying, the Vega and the Lena w^ere also ready to sail. 
I, however, permitted the vessels to remain at Port Dickson a 
day longer, in order to allow Lieutenant Bove to finish his 
survey, and for the purpose of determining astronomically, if 
possible, the position of this important place. In consequence 
of a continuous fog, however, I had as little opportunity of 
doing so on this occasion as during the voyage of 1875, which 
serves to show of what sort the weather is during summer at 
the place where the w^arm water of the Yenisej is poured into 
the Arctic Ocean. It was thus not until the morning of the 
10th August that the Vega and the Lena weighed anchor in 
order to continue their voyage. The course was shaped for the 
most westerly of the islands, which old maps place off the 
estuary- bay of the Pjasina, and name Kammenni Ostrova 
(Stone Islands), a name which seems to indicate that in their 
natural state they correspond to the rocky islands about Port 
Dickson. The sky was hid by mist, the temperature of the air 
rose to + 10°'4 C. ; that of the water was at first + 10°, after- 
wards + 8° ; its salinity at the surface of the sea was inconsider- 
able. No ice was seen during the course of the day. Favoured 
by a fresh breeze from the south-east, the Vega could thus 
begin her voyage with all sail set. Small rocky islands, which 
are not to be found on the chart, soon reminded us of the 
untrustworthiness of the maps. This, together with the pre- 
vailing fog, compelled Captain Palander to sail forward with 
great caution, keeping a good outlook and sounding constantly. 
Warm weather and an open sea were also favourable for the 
next day's voyage. But the fog now became so dense, that the 
Vega had to lie-to in the morning at one of the many small 
islands which we still met with on our way. 

Dr. Kjellman, Dr. Almquist, Lieutenant Nordquist, and I, 
landed here. The bare and utterly desolate island consisted of 
a low^ gneiss rock, rising here and there into cliffs, which were 

E 2 



244 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

shattered by the frost and rather richly clothed with lichens. 
On the more low-lying places the rock was covered with a layer 
of gravel, which, through drying and consequent contraction, 
had burst into six-sided figures, mostly from 3 to 0"5 metre in 
diameter. The interior of the figures was completely bare of 
vegetation, only in the cracks there was to be seen an exceed- 
ingly scanty growth of stunted mosses, lichens, and flowering 
plants. Of the last-named group there , were found fifteen 
species,-^ which could with success, or more correctly without 
succumbing, survive the struggle for existence on the little poor 
archipelago, protected by no mountain heights, from the storms 
of the Polar Sea ; but of these species, perhaps a couple seldom 
develop any flowers. The mosses, too, were in great part 
without fruit, with the exception of those which grew on the 
margin, formed of hard clay covered with mud, of a pool, filled 
with brackish water and lying close to the sea-margin. A large 
number of pieces of driftwood scattered round this pool showed 
that the place was occasionally overflowed with sea- water, which 
thus appears to have been favourable to the develojDment of the 
mosses. Of lichens Dr. Almquist found a number of species, 
well developed, and occurring in comparative abundance. On 
the contrary, the sea, although the surrounding rocky islands 
indicated a good bottom for algffi, was so completely destitute of 
the higher algce, that only a single microscopic species was 
found by Dr. Kjellnian. No mammalia were seen, not even the 
usual inhabitant of the desolate rocky islands of the Polar Sea, 
the Polar bear, who, in regions where he has not made acquaint- 
ance with the hunter's ball or lance, in secure reliance on his 
hitherto unvanquished might, seldom neglects to scrutinise the 
newly arrived guests from the tops of high rocks or ice-blocks. 
We saw here only six species of birds. The first of these that 
attracted our attention was the snow-bunting, which had left 
the more fertile mountain heights of the south to choose this 
bare and desolate island in the Arctic Ocean for its breeding- 
place, and now fluttered round the stone mounds, where it had 
its nest, with unceasing twitter, as if to express its satisfaction 
with its choice. Further, two species of waders, Tringa mari- 
tima and Phala7'opusftdicarius, were observed running restlessly 
about the beach to collect their food, which consists of insects. 

, 1 Namely, according to Dr. Kjellman's determination, the following 

Saxifraga oppositifolia L. Cerastium alpinum L. 

„ rivularis L. Alsine macrocarpa Fenzl. 

,, ■ cjespitosa L. Sagina nivalis Fr. 

Cardamine bellidifolia L. Salix polaris Wg. 

Cochlearia fenestrata R. Br. Glyceria vilfoidea (Ands.) Th. Fr. 

Ranunculus hyperboreus Rottb. Catabrosa algid a (Sol.) Fr. 

Stellaria Edwardsii R. Br. Aira ca^spitosa L. 

Juncus biglumis L, 



VII.] 



THE FAUNA OF THE EOCKY ISLAND. 



245 



The birds that were killed often had their crops full of the 
remains of insects, although living at a place where the 
naturalist has to search for hours to find a dozen gnats or their 
equals in size, a circumstance that tells very favourably for these 
birds' power of vision, of locomotion, and of apprehension. It 
is difficult in any case to understand what it is that attracts this 
insectivorous bird to one of the regions that is poorest in insect 
life in the whole world. The glaucous gulls' plunderer, the 
skua, and its ehastiser the bold tern, were also observed, as were a 
few barnacle geese. On the other hand, no eiders were met with. 
All the birds named occurred only in inconsiderable numbers, and 





THE VEGA AND LENA MOORED TO AN ICE-FLOE. 

On the morning of the 12th Augitst, 1878. (After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 

there was nothing found here resembling the life which prevails 
on a Spitzbergen fowl-island. Finally, it may be mentioned 
that Lieutenant Nordquist found under stones and pieces of 
drift-wood a few insects, among them a beetle (a staphylinid). 
Dr. Stuxberg afterwards found a specimen of the same insect 
species at Cape Chelyuskin itself. No beetle is found on Spitz- 
bergen, though the greater portion of that group of islands is, 
in respect of climate, soil, and vegetation, much better favoured 
than the region now in question. This seems to me to show 
that the insect fauna of Spitzbergen, exceedingly inconsiderable 
and limited in numbers as it is, has migrated thither in com- 
paratively recent times, and in how high a degree the migration 



246 THE VOYAGE OP THE VEGA/ [chap. 

of beetles is rendered difficult by their inability to pass broad 
expanses of water. 

By afternoon the air had again cleared somewhat, so that we 
could sail on. A piece of ice was seen here and there, and at 
night the ice increased for a little to an unpleasant extent. 
Now, however, it did not occur in such quantity as to prove an 
obstacle to navigation in clear weather or in known waters. 

On the 12th August we still sailed through considerable 
fields of scattered drift-ice, consisting partly of old ice of large 
dimensions, partly of very rotten year's ice. It formed, how- 
ever, no serious obstacle to our advance, and nearer the shore 
we would probably have had quite open water, but of course it 
was not advisable to go too near land in the fog and unknown 
waters, without being obliged. A large number of fish {Gadus 
polaris) were seen above the foot of a large block of ground ice, 
near which we lay-to for some hours. Next day we saw near one 
of the islands, where the water was very clear, the sea-bottom 
bestrewed with innumerable fish of the same species. They 
had probably perished from the same cause, which often kills 
fisli in the river Ob in so great numbers that the water is in- 
fected, namely, from a large shoal of fish having been enclosed 
by ice in a small hole, where the water, when its surface has 
frozen, could no longer by absorption from the air replace 
the oxygen consumed, and where the fish have thus been 
literally drowned. I mention this inconsiderable Jind of some 
self-dead fish, because self-dead vertebrate animals, even fish, 
are found exceedingly seldom. Such finds therefore deserve to 
be noted with much greater care than, for instance, the occur- 
rence of animal species in the neighbourhood of places where 
they have been seen a thousand times before. During my nine 
expeditions in the Arctic regions, where animal life during 
summer is so exceedingly abundant, the case just mentioned 
has been one of the few in which I have found remains of recent 
vertebrate animals which could be proved to have died a natural 
death. Near hunting-grounds there are to be seen often enough 
the remains of reindeer, seals, foxes, or birds that have died 
from gunshot wounds, but no self-dead Polar bear, seal, walrus, 
white whale, fox, goose, auk, lemming or other vertebrate. The 
Polar bear and the reindeer are found there in hundreds, the 
seal, walrus, and white whale in thousands, and birds in millions.^ 
These animals must die a "natural" death in untold numbers 
What becomes of their bodies ? Of this we have for the 
present no idea, and yet we have here a problem of immense 

^ I can r(Mnember only one other instance of finding self-dead vertebrate 
animals, viz. when in 1873, as has already been stated (p. 86), I found 
a large number of dead rotges on the ice at the mouth of Hinloopen 
Strait. 



VII.] A REMARKABLE FIND. 247 

importance for the answering of a large number of questions 
concerning the formation of fossihferous strata. It is strange 
in any case that on Spitzbergen it is easier to find vertebrae of 
a gigantic lizard of the Trias, than bones of a self-dead seal, 
walrus, or bird, and the same also holds good of more southerly 
inhabited lands. 

On the 13th August we again sailed past a large number of 
small rocks or islands. The sea was at first pretty free of ice, 
but was afterwards bestrewed with even, thin pieces of drift-ice, 
which were not forced up on each other, and thus had not been 
exposed in winter to any ice-pressure. This ice did not cause 
any inconvenience to the navigation, but at the same time all 
was wrapt in a very close mist, which soon compelled us to 
anchor near the shore in a little bay. I endeavoured without 
success to determine the position of the place by astronomical 
observations. Along the shore there still remained nearly 
everyAvhere a pretty high snow and ice-foot, which in the fog 
presented the appearance of immense glaciers. The land be- 
sides Avas free of ice. In respect of its geological formation and 
its animals and plants it resembled completely the island I have 
just described. But the sea-water here was clear and salt, and 
the dredging therefore yielded to Dr. Kjellman some large alga^, 
and to Dr. Stuxberg a large number of marine evertebrates. 

When the fog lightened, we immediately steamed on, but we 
had scarcely got to sea before we were again wrapped in so close 
a fog that we were compelled to lie-to for the night beside a 
large piece of drift-ice. The hempen tangles were used, and 
brought up a very abundant yield of large, beautiful animal 
forms, a large number of asterids, Astrophyton, Antedon, &c. 
There was besides made here an exceedingly remarkable, and 
to me still, while I write, a very enigmatical find. 

For several years back I have been zealous for the examina- 
tion of all substances of the nature of dust which fall to the 
surface of the earth with rain or snow, and I have proved that a 
portion of them is of cosmic origin. This inconsiderable fall of 
dust is thus of immense importance for the history of the de- 
velopment of our globe, and we regard it, besides, with the 
intense interest which we inevitably cherish for all that brings 
us an actual experience regarding the material world beyond 
our globe. The inhabited countries of the earth, however, are 
less suitable for such investigations, as the particles of cosmic 
dust falling down here in very limited quantity can only with 
difficulty be distinguished from the dust of civilization, arising 
from human dwellings, from the offal of industry, from furnaces 
and the chimneys of steam-engines. Tlie case is quite different 
on the snow and ice-fields of the High North, remote from 
human habitations and the tracks of steamers. Every foreign 




HAIRSTAR FROM THE TAIMDR COAST. 

Antedon Esohrichtii, J. MAller. 
Three-fifths of tlie natural size. 



CHAr. VII.] 



CURIOUS CRYSTALS. 



240 



can here be easily distinguished and removed, 
a strong probability that the offal of civilization 



grain of dust 

and there is 

is here nearly wholly wanting. It is self-evident from this 

that I would not be disposed to neglect the first opportunity 

for renewed investigations in the direction indicated, which 

our involuntary rest at the drift-ice field offered. 

Immediately after the Vega lay-to, I therefore went down on 
the ice in order to see whether here too some such metalliferous 
dust, as I had before f )und north of Spitzbergen, was not to be 
found on the surface of the ice. Nothing of the kind, however, 
was to be seen. On the other hand, Lieutenant Nordquist 
observed small yellow spccks in the snow, which I asked him to 
collect and hand over for investigation to Dr. Kjellman. For I 
supposed that the specks consisted of diatom ooze. After exa- 
mining them Dr. Kjellman however declared that they did not 
consist of any organic substance, 
but of crystallised grains of sand. 
I too now examined them more 
closely, but unfortunately not until 
the morning after we had left the 
ice-field, and then found that the 
supposed ooze consisted of pale 
yellow crystals (not fragments of 
crystals) without mixture of foreign 
matter. The quantity of crystals, 
which were obtained from about 
three litres of snow, skimmed from 
the surface of the snow on an 
area of at most 10 square metres, 

amounted to nearly 0'2 gram. The crystals were found only 
near the surface of the snow, not in the deeper layers. 
They were up to 1 mm. in diameter, had the appearance 
shown in the accompanying woodcut, and appeared to 
belong to the rhombic system, as they had one perfect 
cleavage and formed striated prisms terminated at either 
end by truncated pyramids. Unfortunately I could not make 
any actual measurements of them, because after being kept 
for some time in the air they weathered to a white non- 
crystalline powder. They lay, without being sensibly dissolved, 
for a whole night in the Avater formed by the melting of the 
snow. On being heated, too, they fell asunder into a tasteless 
white powder. The white powder, that was formed by the 
weathering of the crystals, was analysed after our return — 21 
months after the discovery of the crystals — and was found to 
contain only carbonate of lime. 

The original composition and origin of this substance appears 
to me exceedingly enigmatical. It was not common carbonate 




FOEM OF THE CRVSTAL3 

Found on the ice off the Taimur coast. 
;Magnified thirty to forty times. 



230 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cuap. 

of lime, for the crystals were rhomboliedral and did not show 
the cleavage of calcite. Nor can there be a question of 
its being arragonite, because this mineral might indeed fall 
asunder "of itself," but in that case the newly-formed powder 
ought to be crystalline. Have the crystals originally been a 
new hydrated carbonate of lime, formed by crystallising out 
of the sea-water in intense cold, and then losing its water 
at a temperature of 10° or 20° above the- freezing-point ? In 
such a case they ought not to have been found on the surface of 
the snow, but lower down on the surface of the ice. Or have 
they fallen down from the inter-planetary spaces to the surface 
of the earth, and before crumbling down have had a composition 
differing from terrestrial substances in the same way as various 
chemical compounds found in recent times in meteoric stones ? 
The occurrence of the crystals in the uppermost layer of snow 
and their falling asunder in the air, tell in favour of this view. 
Unfortunately there is now no possibility of settling these 
questions, but at all events this discovery is a further incitement 
to those who travel in the High North to collect with extreme 
care, from snow-fields lying far from the ordinary routes of com- 
munication, all foreign substances, though apparently of trifling 
importance. 

As this question can be answered with the greatest ease and 
certainty by investigations in the Polar regions, I shall here, for 
tlie guidance of future travellers, enumerate some discoveries 
of a like nature which have been made by me, or at my instance. 

1. In the beginning of December, 1871, there happened at 
Stockholm an exceedingly heavy fall of snow, perhaps the 
heaviest which has taken place in the memory of man. Several 
persons psrished in the snow in the immediate neighbourhood 
of Stockholm. During the last days of the snowfall I had 
about a cubic metre of snow collected and melted in a vessel. 
It left a residue of black powder, which contained grains of 
metallic iron that were attracted by the magnet. 

2. In the middle of March, 1872, a similar investigation was 
made by my brother, Karl Noedenskiold, in a remote forest 
settlement, Evois, in Finland. Here, too, was obtained, on 
the melting of the snow, a small residuum, consisting of a 
black powder containing metallic iron. 

3. On the 8th August and 2nd September of the same year, 
I examined, north of Spitzbergen, in 80° N.L., and 13° to 15° 
E.L., the layer of snow that there covered the ice. The nature 
of this layer is shown by the accompanying woodcut, in which 
1, is new-fallen snow ; 2, a layer of hardened old snow, eight 
mm. in thickness ; 3, a layer of snow conglomerated to a 
crystalline granular mass; and 4, common granular hardened 
snow. Layer 3 was full of small black grains, among which 



VIl.J 



COSMIC DUST. 



I5i 



were found numerous metallic particles that were attracted by 
the magnet, and were found to contain iron, cobalt, and possibly 
nickel also. 

4. On the melting of 500 gram, hail, which fell in Stockholm 
in the autumn of 1873, similar metallic particles containing 
cobalt (nickel) were obtained, which, in this case, might possibly 
have come from the neighbouring roofs, because the hail was 
collected in a yard surrounded by houses roofed with sheet-iron 
painted red. The black colour of the metallic particles enclosed 
in the hail^ their position in the hail, and -finally, the cobalt 
they contained, however, indicate in this case too, a quite 
different origin. 

5. In a dust (kryokonite), collected on the inland ice of 
Greenland in the month of July, 1870, 
there were also found mixed with it grains 
of metallic iron, containing cobalt. The 
main mass consisted of a crystalline, double- 
refracting silicate, drenched through with an 
ill-smelling organic substance. The dust 
was found in large quantities at the bottom 
of innumerable small holes in the surface of 
the inland ice. This dust could scarcely be 
of volcanic origin, because by its crj^stalline 
structure it differs completely from the 
glass-dust that is commonly thrown out of 
volcanoes, and is often carried by the wind 
to very remote regions, as also from the 
dust which, on the 30th March, 1875, fell 
at many places in the middle of Scandinavia, 
and which was proved to have been thrown 
out by volcanoes on Iceland. For, while 
kryokonite consists of small angular double- 
refracting crystal-fragments without any 
mixture of particles of glass, the volcanic 
Haga-dust^ consists almost wholly of small microscopic glass 
bubbles that have no action on the polarisation-planes of the 
light that passes through them. 




A^'^ 






SECTION OF THE UPPER 
PART or THE SNOW ON 
A DRIFT-ICE FIELD IN 
80° N.L. 

One-half the natural size. 



^ I use this name because the ash-rain of March 1875 was first observed 
at Haga palace near Stockholm, and thus at the outer limit of the known 
area of distribution of the dust. It was iirst through the request whicJi 
in consequence of this observation Avas published in the newspapers, that 
communicati&ns regarding singular observations in other quarters should 
be sent to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that it became known that 
a similar rain had about the same time taken place over a very large part 
of middle Sweden and Norway. The dust however did not fall evenly, 
but distributed in spots, and at several different times. The distance 
from Stockholm of the volcanoes, where the outbreak took place, is nearly 
2000 kilometres. 



052 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Siinilav invcstii^ations have siin^c boon made, anioiift' others, 
by M. Ti8SANi)iKR ill Paris, and during Naimw' English Polar- 
Expedition. 

It n\ay appear to many tha,t it is below the dignity of science 
to c(^neern one's self with so triiiing an aifair as the fall of a 
small (niiuitity of dvist. But this is by no means the case. For 
I ostiiiiate the (jnaintity of the dust tliat was found on the ice 
north of Spiizborgon at from 0"1 to 1 milligram per square 
metre, a,ud probably the whole fall of dust for the year far 
exceeded the latter figure. But a, milligram on every square 
metre of the surface of the earth amounts for the whole globe 
to five hundred million kilograms (say half a miUion tons) ! 
Such a, mass collected year by year during the geological ages, 
of a. duration probably inct)m[)rehensiblt; by us, forms too im- 
|»orta,nt a faiCtor to be neglected, when the fundiimental fjxcts of 
the geological history of our planet are enumerated. A coli- 
timiation of these investigations will perhaps sliow, tliat onr 
globe has increased gradually from a, small beginning to the 
dimensions it now possesses ; that n considerable qua^ntity of the 
constituents of our sedimentary stra,ta, especiailly of those that 
have been deposited in the o})tui sea. far from land, axe of cosmic 
origin ; ami will throw an unexpected light on the origin of the 
iire-hearths of the volcanoes, ai\d aftbrd a simple explanation of 
tlie remarkable resemblance which nnmistakably exists between 
[)lutonic rocks and meteoric stones.''- 

On tlie 14th August, when th(> fog had lightened a little, M'e 
got up stea.m, but were soon compelled to anchor again in a bay 
running into Taimur Island from the north side of Tainiur 
Sound, which I named Actinia Bay, from the large number of 
actinia which the dredge brought up there. It is, besides, not 
the only place in the Kara Sea which might be nameil from 
the e vertebrate life })revailing there, so unexpectedly abundant. 

Unfavourable weather detained us in Actinia Bay, wdiich 
is a. good and well-protecteil haven, till the 18th August, 
during which time excursions were made in various directions, 
ainong others farther into Tainnir Sound, where a variable 
strong current was found to prevail. The Sound is too shallow 
to be passed thnnigh by kirge vessels. The rocks round Tainnir 
Sound consist of gneiss strata, which form low ridges tlia,t 
haVe been so shattered by tiu^ frost that they have been con- 
verted into immense lichen-clad stone mounds. Between these 
stretch extensive valleys and plains, now free of snow, if we 

' Niinuily, by sliowiiiy that tlio principal nuiteriul of the plutoiiic and 
volciinic rooks is of oosuiic origin, and tliat the phononieiia of heat, .which 
occnr in these layers, depend on cheiuical cha.ni>es to wliich the cosmic 
sediment, after being- covered by tliick terrestrial formations, is snhjected. 



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vir.] 



THE FLORA OF TAIMUR LAND. 



253 



except a snow-drift remaining here and there in the hollows. 
The plains were all covered with a very green continuous 
vegetation, which however on a closer examination was found 
to be not a true turf, but a mixture of grasses, allied plants, and 
a large number of different kinds of mosses and lichens. Actual 
flowers were found here only sparingly/ In this respect the 
coast tundra shows a remarkable difference from the coast lands 
on Vaygats Island and Novaya Zemlya. On the other hand, the 
abundance of luxuriant lichens and mosses was striking. The 
mosses along the beach and the borders of the snow-drifts 
remaining here and there bore fruit in abundance. Animal life 
on land was scanty ; some few reindeer were seen, a mountain 
fox was killed, and a lemming caught. 

Only the following birds were seen : owls (Strix nyctea) rather 
numerous, of which one was killed ; a species of falcon, which 
was hunted unsuccessfully ; snow buntings, breeding very gene- 
rally in the stone mounds ; a covey of snow ptarmigan, of which 
some young birds were shot ; six species of waders, the most 
common birds of the region, of which a large number were 
shot ; two kinds of gulls (Larus glauciLS and tridadylus) ; Lestris 
2MrasUica and Buffonii, the latter the more common of the two ; 
Anscr ternida, very common ; and finally the long-tailed duck 
{Harelda glacialis) in great flocks swimming in the Sound. 
Bird, life, viewed as a whole, was still scanty here, in comparison 
Avith that which we were accustomed to see in the northern 
regions west of Novaya Zemlya. 

In the sea the higher animal life was somewhat more abun- 
dant. A walrus had been seen during the passage from the 
Yenisej, and on the ice drifting about in the Sound a number of 
seals, both Phoca harbata and Phoca hiapida, were observed. 



1 Dr. Kjellman has given the following- list of the flowering plants 
collected by him in this region : — ■ 



Cineraria frigida Eichards. 
Potentilla emarginata PuRSH. 
Saxifraga stellaris L. f. comosa. 

„ nivahs L. 

„ cernua L. 

,, rivularis L. 
Chrysosplenium alternifolium L. 
Cardamine bellidifolia L. 
Draba corymbosa R. Br. 
Papaver nudicaule L. 
Ranunculus pygmaeus Wg. 

„ hyperboreus Rottb. 

„ sulphureus Sol. 

Stellaria Edwardsii R. Br. 
Cerastiura alpinum L. 
Alsine macrocarpa Fenzl. 
Salix polaris Wg. 



Poa arctica R. Br. 
Arctophila peudulina (L^ST,) Ands. 
Catabrosa algida (Sol.) Fr 
Colpodium latifolium R. Br. 
Dupontia Fisheri R. Br. 
Pleuropogon Sabini R. Br. 
Aira c^spitosa L. 
Hierochloa pauciflora R. Br. 
Calamagrostis lapponica (Wg.) H\. 
Alopecurus alpinus S>r. 
Eriophorumangustifolium Roth. 
,, Scheuchzeri Hoppe. 

Carex aquatilis Wg. 

,, rigida Good. 
Juncus biglumis L. 
Lozula hyperborea R. Br. 
arctica Bl. 



254 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[ciur. 



This gave rise to the supposition that at the sea-bottom animal 
life was richer, which Avas also confirmed by the dredging yield. 
Nowhere was seen on our arrival any trace of man, but a cairn 
now indicates the place, off which tl\e Vega and the Lena were 
anchored. 




GRASS FROM ACTINIA. BAY. 

PUuroyogon Sabmi, B. Be. 

In this sea never before visited by any vessel, however, we 
were nearly coming in contact with a countryman. For while 
we lay at anchor in Taimur Sound, Captain Edward Johannesen 
came into the neighbourhood of the same place with his sailing 



vu.] SOLITUDE ISLAND. 255 

vessel Norcllcmcl from Tromsoe. He had leffc Norway on the 22nd 
May 1878, had come to Gooseland in Novaya Zeralya on the 6th 
June, and had reached the northernmost point of that island 
on the 22nd July. Here loud thunder was heard on the 26th 
July. On the 10th August he steered eastwards from Novaya 
Zemlya across the Kara Sea between 76° and 77° N.L. in open 
water. On the 16th he had the Taimur country in sight. 
Here he turned, and steered first to the west, then to the north. 
In 77° 31' N.L. and 86° E.L. from Greenwich he discovered and 
circumnavigated a new island, which was named "Ensamheten" 
(Solitude). The island was free of snow, but not overgrown with 
grass. The a,nimals that were seen were some bears and bearded 
seals, terns, fulmars, ivory gulls, flocks of black guillemots, and 
a "bird with a rounded tail and long bill," probably some wader. 
On the north-east side of the island a strong northerly current 
prevailed. The remote position and desolate appearance of the 
island gave occasion to the name proposed by Johannesen. 
Hence Johannesen sailed with a great bend to the north, which 
brought him to 78° N.L., back to the northern extremity of 
Novaya Zemlya, and thence on the 12th September to Norway. 
During the return voyage across the Kara Sea also scarcely any 
ice was met with.^ 

An exceedingly persistent fog prevailed during the whole 
of the time we remained here, but at last on the 18th it light- 
ened a little. We- immediately weighed anchor and steamed 
along the western shore of Taimur Island. It is surrounded by 
a large number of islands that are not given on the map, and 
possibly Taimur Island itself is divided by sounds into several 
parts. During our voyage, however, the fog that was still very 
close hindered us from mapping, otherwise than in a very loose 
way, the islands, large and small, between and past which the 
Vega searched for a passage. So much we could in any case see, 
that the northern extremity of Taimur Island does not run so 
far north as the common maps show. 

Ice we met with only in small quantity, and what we saw was 
very rotten fjord or river ice. I scarcely believe that in the 
course of the day we met with a single piece of ice large enough 
to flense a seal upon. We had as yet seen no true old drift-ice 
such as is to be met with north of Spitzbergen. In respect 
to the nature of the ice, there is a complete dissimilarity between 
the Kara Sea and the sea north and east of Spitzbergen. Another 
striking difference is the scarcity of warm-blooded animals 
which prevails in this region, hitherto exempted from all hunting. 
In the course of the day we had not seen a single bird — something 

^ H.Mohn. Die Insel Einsamkeit, &c., with a map (Petermann'.s Mitthei- 
vngen, 1879, p. 57). 



'250 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA [chap. vii. 

which never before happened to me during a summer journey in 
the Arctic regions — and scarcely any seals. 

On the 19th August we continued to sail and steam along 
the coast, mostly in a very close fog, which only at intervals 
dispersed so much that the lie of the coast could be made out. 
In order that they might not be separated, both vessels had 
often to signal to each other with the steam-whistle. The sea 
was bright as a mirror. Prift-ice was seen now and then, but 
only in small quantity and very rotten ; but in the course of the 
day we steamed past an extensive unbroken ice-field, fast to the 
land, which occupied a bay on the west side of the Chelyuskin 
peninsula. The ice, of which it consisted, appeared in the mist 
immensely rough and high, although in fact it was nearly as 
rotten as that of which the narrow belts of ice were formed 
which we now and then met with out at sea. 

The fog prevented all view far across the ice, and I already 
feared that the northernmost promontory of Asia would be so 
surrounded with ice that we could not land upon it. But soon a 
dark, ice-free cape peeped out of the mist in the north-east. A 
bay open to the north here cuts into the land, and in this bay 
both the vessels anchored on the 19th August at 6 o'clock p.m. 

We had now reached a great goal, which for centuries had 
been the object of unsuccessful struggles. For the first time a 
vessel lay at anchor otf the northernmost cape of the old world. 
No wonder then that the occurrence was celebrated by a display 
of flags and the firing of salutes, and, when we returned from our 
excursion on land, by festivities on board, by wine and toasts. 

As on our arrival at the Yenisej, we were received here too by 
a large Polar bear, who, even before the vessel anchored, was 
seen to go backwards and forwards on the beach, now and then 
turning his glance and his nose uneasily out to sea in order to 
investigate what remarkable guests had now for the first time 
come to his kingdom. A boat was put off to kill him. Bruse- 
witzwasthe chosen shot; but on this occasion the bear took care 
not to form any closer acquaintance with our guns. The firing 
of the salute put him so thoroughly to flight, that he did not, as 
bears are wont, return the following day. 

The north point of Asia forms a low promontory, which a bay 
divides into two, the eastern arm projecting a little fixrther to 
the north than the western. A ridge of hills with gently slop- 
ing sides runs into the land from the eastern point, and appears 
within sight of the western to reach a height of 300 metres. 
Like the plains lying below, the summits of this range were 
nearly free of snow. Only on the hill-sides or in deep furrows 
excavated by the streams of melted snow, and in dales in the 
plains, were large white snow-fields to be seen. A low ice-foot 
still remained at most places along tlie shore. But no glacier 




s i 






W ^ 



258 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CIIAP. 



rolled its .bluish-white ice-masses down the mountain sides, and 
no inland lakes, no perpendicular cliffs, no high mountain 
summits, gave any natural beauty to the landscape, which was 
the most monotonous and the most desolate I have seen in the 
High North. 

As on the island off which we lay at anchor on the 11th 
August, the ground was everywhere burst asunder into more or 
less regular six-sided figures, the interior of which was usually 
bare of vegetation, while stunted flowering-plants, lichens and 





VIEW AT CAPE CHELYUSKIN DUK.ING THE STAY OF THE EXPEDITION. 

(After a drawing by A. Hovgaard.) 



mosses, rose out of the cracks. At some few places, however, 
the ground was covered with a carpet of mosses, lichens, grasses 
and allied plants, resembling that which I previously found at 
Actinia Bay. Yet the flowering-plants were less numerous here, 
and the mosses more stunted and bearing fruit less abundantly. 
The lichen flora was also, according to Dr. Almquist's examina- 
tion, monotonous, though very luxuriant. The plants were 
most abundant on the farthest extremity of the Cape. It 
almost appeared as if many of the plants of the Taimur country 
had attempted to migrate hence farther to the north, but meet- 
ing the sea, had stood still, unable to go farther and unwilling 



VII.] THE NORTHERNMOST BEETLE. 259 

to turti. For here Dr. Kjellman found on a very limited area 
nearly all the plants of the region. The species which were 
distinctive of the vegetation here were the following : Saxifraga 
oppositifolia L., Pa-pccvcr naidicaule L., Drciba alpina L., 
Cerastmm alpinum L,, Stcllaria Eclioardsii R. Br., Alsine 
macrocarpa Fenzl., Aira ccespitosct L., Catahrosa cilgida (SoL.) Fr., 
and Alopecurus alpinus Sm. The following plants occurred less 
frequently: Eritrichium villosum BuNGE, Saxifraga nivalis L., 
S. cernua L., S. rivularis L., S. stellaris L., S. coispitosa L., 8. 
flagellaris WiLLD., S. serpyllifolia PuRSH., Cardamine lellidifolia 
L., Cochlearia fenestoxda R. Br., Oxyria digyna (L.) Hill., Salix 
polaris Wg., Foa Jlexuosa Wg., and Luzula hypierlorea R. Br. 
There were thus found iu all only twenty-three species of 
inconsiderable flowering-plants, among them eight species 
belonging to the Saxifrage family, a sulphur-yellow poppy, 
commonly cultivated in our gardens, and 
the exceedingly beautiful, forget-me-not- 
like Eritrichium. That the vegetation 
here on the northernmost point of Asia 
has to contend with a severe climate is 
shown, among other things, as Dr. Kjell- 
man has pointed out, by most of the 
flowering-plants there having a special 
tendency to form exceedingly compact 
half-globular tufts. 

The only insects which occurred here in 
any large number were podurss, but some 
flies were also seen, and even a beetle, the t 

before-mentioned Staphylinid. Of birds, 

-, '^ "^ ■. (, 1 THE BEETLE LIVING FARTHEST 

there were seen a large number oi sand- to the north. 

pipers, an exceedingly numerous flock Micraiymma^Dicksom 

of barnacle geese — evidently migrating to Magnified twelve times. 
more southerly regions, perhaps from some 

Polar land lying to the north of Cape Chelyuskin — a loom, some 
kittiwakes and ivory gulls, and remains of owls. Mammalia 
were represented by the bear already mentioned, and by the 
I'eindeer and the lemming, whose traces and dung were seen on 
the plains. In the sea, a walrus, several rough seals {Phoca 
hispida), and two shoals of white whales were seen. 

All rivers were now dried up, but wide, shallow river-beds 
indicated that during the snow-melting season there was an 
abundant flow of water. The rush of snow rivulets and the cry 
of birds then certainly cause an interruption in the desolation 
and silence which were now spread over the clay beds of the 
plains, nearly bare of all vegetation. Probably, however, a little 
farther into the country, in some valley protected from the winds 
of the Polar Sea, we might find quite different natural condi- 

s 2 





DBABA ALPINA L., FROM CAPE CHELYUSKIN. 

Natural size. 



CHAP. VII.] ABUNDANT MAEINE LIFE. 261 

tions/a more abundant animal life, and a vegetable world, in 
summer, as rich in flowers as that which we meet with in the 
valleys of Ice Fjord or the "Nameless Bay" (Besimannaja Bay). 
We saw no trace of man here. The accounts, which were 
current as early as the sixteenth century, relating to the nature 
of the north point of Asia, however, make it probable that the 
Siberian nomads at one time drove their reindeer herds up 
hither. It is even not impossible that Russian hunters from 
Chatanga may have prosecuted the chase here, and that Chelyus- 
kin actually was here, of which we have evidence in the very 
correct way in which the Cape, that now rightly bears his name, 
is laid down on the Russian maps.^ 

The rocks consist of a clay-slate, with crystals resembling 
chiastolite and crystals of sulphide of iron interspersed. At the 
Cape itself the clay-slate is crossed by a thick vein of pure white 
quartz. Here, according to an old custom of Polar travellers, a 
stately cairn was erected. 

In order to get a good astronomical determination of the 
position of this important point I remained there until the 
20th August at noon. The Lmia was ordered to steam out 
to dredge during this time. Eight minutes north of the 
bay, where we lay at anchor, heavy and very close ice was 
met with. There the depth of the sea increased rapidly. 
Animal life at the sea-bottom was very abundant, among other 
things in large asterids and ophiurids. 

According to the plan of the voyage I now wished to steam |, 

from this point right eastwards towards the New Siberian Ij 

Islands, in order to see if we should fall in with land on the 
way. On the 20th and 21st we went forward in this direc- 
tion among scattered driftice, which was heavier and less 
broken up than that which we had met with on the 

1 This has been doubted by Eussian geographers. Von Baer for instance 



' Dariiber ist gar kein Zweifel, dass dieses Vorgebirge nie umsegelt 
ist, und dass es auf einem Irrthum beruhte, wenn Laptew auf einer Seefahrt 
die Bucht, in welche der Taimur sich miindet, erreicht zu haben glaubte. 
Seine eigenen spateren Fahrten erwiesen diesen Irrthum. Die Vergleichung 
der Bericbte und Verhaltnisse lasst mich aber auch glauben, dass selbst zu 
Lande man das Ende dieses Vorgebirges nie erreicht habe ; sondern 
Tscheljuskin, um dieser, man kann wolal sagen, grasslichen Versuche 
endlich iiberhoben zu seyn, sich zu der ungegriindeten Behauptung ent- 
sehloss, er habe das Ende gesehen, und sich iiberzeugt, Sibirien sei nach 
Norden iiberall vom Meere umgranzt,'' [statement by von Baer in Neueste 
Nachrichten iiber die nordlichste Gegend von Siberien ; von Baer and von 
Helmersen, Beitrdge zur Kenntniss des Russischen Retches. IV. St. Petersburg, 
1841, p. 275]. In the following page in the same paper von Baer indeed 
says that he will not lay any special weight on Strahlenberg's statement that 
Siberia and Novaya Zemlya hang together, but he appears to believe that 
they are connected by a bridge of perpetual ice. 



2G2 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



other side of Taimur Land, but without meeting with any 
serious obstacles. We fell in also with some very large ice- 
floes, but not with any icebergs. We were besides again 
attended by so close a mist that we could only see ice-fields 

and pieces of ice in the 
immediate neighbourhood 
of the vessel. Besides 
species of Lestris and 
kittiAvakes we now also 
saw looms, birds that are 
almost wanting in the Kara 
Sea. Johannesen was of 
opinion that the presence 
of these birds showed that 
the sea is not completely 
frozen over in winter, 
because it is not probable 
that the loom in autumn 
and spring would fly across 
the frozen Kara Sea to 
seek in this distant region 
their food and their breed- 
ing-haunts. 

The night before the 
22nd we steamed through 
pretty close ice. The whole 
day so thick a fog still 
prevailed that we could 
not see the extent of the 
ice-fields in the neigh- 
bourhood of the vessel. 
Towards noon we were, 
therefore, compelled to 
take a more southerly 
course. When we found 
that we could not advance 
in this direction, we lay- 
to at a large ice-floe, wait- 
ing for clear weather, until 
in the afternoon the fog 
again lightened somewhat, 
so that we could continue 
our voyage. But it was 
not longj before the fos: again became so thick that, as the 
sailors say, you could cut it with a kmfe. There was now 
evidently a risk that the Vega, while thus continuing to " box the 
compass " in the ice-labyrinth, in which we had entangled our- 




OPHIUKID FROM THE SEA NORTH OF CAPE 
CHELYUSKIN. 

Ophiacantha bidentata, Betz. 
One and one-third of the natural size. 



VII.] OPTICAL ILLUSIONS. 263 

selves, would meet with the same fate that befell the Tegetthoff. 
In order to avoid this, it became necessary to abandon our 
attempt to sail from Cape Chelyuskin straight to the New 
Siberian Islands, and to endeavour to reach as soon as possible 
the open water at the coast. 

When it cleared on the morning of the 23rd, we therefore 
began again to steam forward amoDg the fields of drift-ice, but 
now not with the intention of advancing in a given direction, 
but only of getting to open water. The ice-fields we now met 
with were very much broken up, which was an indication that 
we could not be very far from the edge of the pach. But 
notwithstanding this, all our attempts to find penetrable ice in an 
easterly, westerly, or southerly direction were unsuccessful. We 
had thus to search in a northerly direction for the opening by 
which we had sailed in. This was so much the more unpleasant 
as the wind had changed to a pretty fresh N.W. breeze, on 
which account, with the Vegas weak - steam-power, we could 
make way only slowly. It was not until 6.30 p.m. that we at 
last came to the sack-formed opening in the ice through which 
we had sailed in at noon of the previous day. 

One can scarcely, without having experienced it, form any 
idea of the optical illusions, which are produced by mist, in 
regions where the size of the objects which are visible through 
the fog is not known beforehand, and thus does not give the 
spectator an idea of the distance. Our estimate of distance 
and size in such cases depend wholly on accident. The obscure 
contours of the fog-concealed objects themselves, besides, are 
often by the ignorance of the spectator converted into whimsical 
fantastic forms. During a boat journey in Hinloopen Strait I 
once intended to row among drift-ice to an island at a distance 
of some few kilometres. When the boat started the air was 
clear, but while we were employed, as best we could, in shoot- 
ing sea-fowl for dinner, all was wrapt in a thick mist, and 
that so unexpectedly, that we had not time to take the bearings 
of the island. This led to a not altogether pleasant row by 
guess among the pieces of ice that were drifting about in 
rapid motion in the sound. All exerted themselves as much as 
possible to get sight of the island, whose beach would afford 
us a safe resting-place. While thus occupied, a dark border 
was seen through the mist at the horizon. It was taken for 
the island which we were bound for, and it was not at first 
considered remarkable that the dark border rose rapidly, for we 
thought that the mist was dispersing and in consequence of that 
more of the land was visible. Soon two white snow-fields, that 
we had not observed before, were seen on both sides of the land, 
and immediately after this was changed to a sea-monster, re- 
sembling a walrus-head, as large as a mountain. This got life 



•264 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

aud motion, and finally sank all at once to the head of a common 
walrus, which lay on a piece of ice in the neighbourhood of the 
boat ; the white tusks formed the snow-fields and the dark-brown 
round head the mountain. Scarce was this illusion gone when 
one of the men cried out " Land right a head — high land ! " We 
now all saw before us a high Alpine region, with mountain peaks 
and glaciers, but this too sank a moment afterwards all at once to 
a common ice-border, blackened with earth. In the spring of 
1873 Palander and I with nine men made a sledge journey round 
North-east Land. In the course of this journey a great many 
bears were seen and killed. When a bear was seen while we 
were dragging our sledges forward, the train commonly stood 
still, and, not to frighten the bear, all the men concealed them- 
selves behind the sledges, with the exception of the marksman, 
wdio, squatting down in some convenient place, waited till his 
prey should come sufficiently within range to be killed with 
certainty. It happened once during foggy weather on the ice at 
Wahlenberg Bay that the bear that was expected and had been 
clearly seen by all of us, instead of approaching with his usual 
supple zigzag movements, and with his ordinary attempts to nose 
himself to a sure insight into the fitness of the foreigners for 
food, just as the marksman took aim, spread out gigantic wings 
and flew away in the form of a small ivory gull. Another time 
during the same sledge journey we heard from the tent in which 
we rested the cook, who was employed outside, cry out : " A bear ! 
a great bear ! No ! a reindeer, a very little reindeer ! " The 
same instant a well-directed shot was fired, and the bear-rein- 
deer was found to be a very small fox, which thus paid with 
its life for the honour of having for some moments played the 
part of a big animal. From these accounts it may be seen 
how difficult navigation among drift-ice must be in unkownn 
waters. 

On the two occasions on which the vessel was anchored to 
ice-floes the trawl-net was used, and the hempen tangles. The 
net was drawn forward slowly with the ice which was drifting to 
the north-west before a fresh S.E. breeze which was blowing 
at the time. The yield of the trawling was extraordinarily 
abundant ; large asterids, crinoids, sponges, holothuria, a 
gigantic sea-spider (Pycnogonid), masses of worms, Crustacea, &c. 
It was the most abundant yield that the trawl-net at any one time 
brought up during the whole of our voyage round the coast of Asia, 
and this from the sea off the northern extremity of that 
continent. 

Among the forms collected here we may specially refer to 
the large sea-spider, of which a drawing is given (p. 265) 
and three specimens of small stalked crinoids. The depth 
varied between 60 and 100 metres. The temperature of the 



VII.] 



A SEA SPIDER. 



265 



water was at the surface + 0° to — 0°'6 ; at the bottom - 1°"4 to 
1°*6 ; its salinity was considerable, both at the bottom, where it 
was ver}^ nearly equal to that of the other great oceans, and at 
the surface, where it was indeed about a fifth-part less, but 




yet much greater than that of the surface-water in the Kara 
Sea. 

It is singular that a temperature under the freezing-point 
of pure water should be advantageous for the development 
of an animal life so extremely rich as that which is found here, 



266 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

and that this animal life should not suffer any harm from the 
complete darkness, which during the greater portion of the 
year prevails at the bottom of the ice-covered sea. 

When we got out of the ice we steamed towards the land, 
which was sighted on the 23rd at 8.45 p.m. The land was low 
and free from snow ; the depth of the sea at a distance of ten 
kilometres from the coast varied between thirteen and fifteen 
metres. The coast here stretched from north to south. We 
followed it at a distance of seven to ten kilometres. A north- 
westerly breeze here carried the vessel, without the help of 
steam, rapidly forward over a completely smooth sea. 

On the 24th August we still sailed along the land towards 
the south. The depth of the sea now increased to thirty-three 
metres at a distance of ten kilometres from land. The land rose 
gradually, and some distance from the coast beautiful mountain 
chains were seen, which, judging by the eye, rose to a height 
of from 600 to 900 metres. They were, like the plains along 
the coast, quite free from snow. Only in the- clefts of the 
mountains there remained some few collections of snov/ or ice, 
which at two places appeared to form true glaciers, which however 
terminated at a considerable height above the sea. The snow- 
free slopes between the foot of the mountain and the shore 
bank, thirty to sixty metres high, formed an even plain, covered 
by a brownish-green turf, probably of the same nature as that 
we saw on Taimur Island. 

During the forenoon we had splendid clear weather, and 
often we could see from the vessel no trace of ice. We saw a 
large number of walruses, and to judge by the fire which this 
sight kindled in the eyes of our hunters, it will not be long 
till the Norwegian hunting voyages are extended to the sea 
north and east of the north point of Asia. We saw besides a 
large number of looms and black guillemots, the former 
accompanied by young of the year, as large as rotges. 
About noon we sighted " land ahead to larboard." It was 
evidently Preobraschenie Island. I determined to land on it 
for a few hours to carry on researches in natural history, and 
to fix the position of the place by astronomical observations, if 
the weather should permit. The distance of this high-lying 
island was however greater than we expected. So that it was 
not until six o'clock in the evening that we could anchor off 
its south-west side, near the almost perpendicular face of cliffs 
abounding in sea-fowl. 

During the last two days we had been sailing over a region, 
which on recent maps is marked as land. This shows that a 
considerable change must be made on the map of North Siberia, 
and I shall therefore quote here the observations on which the 
determination of our course is grounded. 



v-ii.j PEEOBRASCHENIE ISLAND. 267 

Observed 
Latitude. Longitude. 

Cape Chelyuskin' 77'36-8' 103^7-2' 

On board the Fe^a' at noon of the 21st Aug. 77° 25' 109° 12' 

„ „ „ „ „ „ „ 22nd „ 76° 53' 116° 9' 

„ „ „ „ „ „ „ 23rd „ 76° 48' 115° 0' 

„ „ „ „ „ „ „ 24th „ 75° 0' 113° 33' 

At the last mentioned point we had land to starboard of us 
at an estimated distance of 4'. Preobraschenie Island lay 
S. 21° W. 17*5' off. It is on the ground of these data and of 
the courses recorded in the log, that the track of the Vega 
has been laid down on the map, and no doubt can arise that the 
position of the east coast of Taimur peninsula, as indicated by 
us, is in the main correct. 

Preobraschenie Island forms a pretty even grassy plain, lying 
from thirty to sixty metres above the sea-level, which in the 
north-west terminates towards the sea with an almost per- 
pendicular rocky wall, but to the south-east sinks gradually 
down to two sand-banks which run far out to sea. At the 
time of our visit the island was free of snow and covered with 
a carpet of mosses mixed with grass, which was exceedingly 
abundant, especially on the south-west slopes of the island, pro- 
tected as they were from the north winds. Here we encountered 
anew the Arctic animal world in all its profusion. The ledges 
of the perpendicular shore-cliffs of the island formed the 
breeding-place of numberless looms and kitti wakes, to which a 
few black guillemots attached themselves. Along the farthest 
margin of the beach waders ran busily backwards and forwards 
in order to collect their food. At the summits of the cliffs 
a flock of glaucous gulls were breeding, and on the slopes 
of the low land the white mountain owl was seen lying in wait 
for its prey, quiet and motionless for hours, but as usual it was 
wary and shy, so that it was only with difficulty that the hunter 
could get within range of it. At some places there extended 
between the foot of the " loomery " and the sea a stone-bestrewn 
beach, which at high water was mostly covered by the sea, and 
at low water was full of shallow salt-water pools. Here had 
settled two Polar bears that were soon killed, one by Lieutenant 
Brusewitz, the other by Captain Johannesen. The bears had 
evidently been on the hunt for looms, which along with their 
young, large as rotges and already able to swim, were swimming 
in the pools of water at the foot of the " loomery," and above all 
perhaps they were lying in wait for birds which by some accident 

^ According to an observation with an artificial horizon on land. 
2 According to an observation on board. The observations for longitude 
that were made some hours before or after noon, are reduced to noon. 



268 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 

happened to fall down from the breeding-place. In the sea no 
small number of seals were seen, and but a few hours before 
our arrival at the island we had sailed past herds of walrus. 

Vegetation was much more luxuriant and richer in species 
than at Cape Chelyuskin, and naturally bore a more southern 
stamp, not only in consequence of the more southerly position 
of the island, but also on account of its shores being washed 




PREOBEASCHENIE ISLAND. 

(After a sketch by O. Nordquist.) 



by the water of the Chatanga river, which is warm during 



summer.^ 

1 The following 65 species were 

Saussurea alpina DC. 
Gymnandra Stelleri Cham. & 

SCHLECHT. 

Pedicularis hirsuta L. 
Eritrichium villosuin Bunge, 
Myosotis silvatica Hoffm. 
Phaca f rigida L. 
Dryas octopetala L. 
Sieversia glacialis K. Br. 
Potentilla emarginata Pursh. 
Saxifraga oppositifolia L. 

„ bronchialis L. 

,, flagellaris Willd. 

„ Hirculus L. 

., serpyllifolia Pursh. 



collected here by Dr. Kjellman : — 

Saxifraga stellaris L. f. comosa. 

„ nivalis L. 

„ hieraciifolia Waldst. & 
Kit. 

„ punctata L. 

„ cernua L. 

„ rivularis L. 

„ cjBspitosa L. 
Chrysosplenium alternifoliuni L. 
Eutrema Edwardsii R. Br. 
Parrya macrocarpa R. Br. 
Cardamine bellidifolia L. 
Cochlearia fenestrata R. Br. 
Draba alpina L. 
Papaver nudicaule L. 



VII.] PARTING OF THE VEGA AND THE LENA. 269 

Unfortunately, on account of the advanced season of the year 
I could only allow the Vega to remain a few hours off this 
interesting island, and at 10.30 p.m. accordingly the anchor was 
weighed and our voyage along the coast resumed. 

On the 25th, 26th and 27th August we had for the most 
part calm, fine weather, and the sea was completely free of ice. 
The temperature of the water again rose to +5°'8, and its 
salinity diminished considerably. But the depth now decreased 
so much, that, for instance, on the night before the 26th we had 
great difficulty in getting past some shoals lying west of the 
delta of the Lena, off the mouth of the Olonek. 

It had originally been my intention to let the Vega separate 
from the Lena at some anchorage in one of the mouth-arms of 
the Lena river. But on account of the shallowness of the 
water, the favourable wind and the ice-free sea, that now lay 
before us to the eastward, I determined to part from the Lena 
in the open sea off Tumat Island. This parting took place on 
the night between the 27th and 28th August, after Captain 
Johannesen had been signalled to come on board the Vega, to 
receive orders, passport,^ and letters for home. As a parting 
salute to our trusty little attendant during our voyage round 
the north point of Asia some rockets were fired, on which we 
steamed or sailed on, each to his destination. 

During our passage from Norway to the Lena we had been 
much troubled with fog, but it was only when we left the 
navigable water along the coast to the east of Cape Chelyuskin 
that we fell in with ice in such quantity that it Avas an obstacle 

Eanunculus pygmseus Wg. Glyceria angustata R. Br. 

„ hyperboreus Rottb. „ vilfoidea (Ands.) Th. Fr. 

„ nivalis L. Arctopliila pendulina (L^est.) And. 

„ sulphureus Sol. Catabrosa algida (Sol.) Fr. 

Caltha palustris L. Colpodfura latifolium R. Br, 

Wahlbergella apetala (L.) Fr. Dupontia Fisheri R. Br. 

Stellaria humif usa Rottb, Aira caespitosa L. 

,, Edwardsii R. Br, Hierochloa pauciflora R. Br. 

Cerastium alpinum L. Alopecurus alpinus Sm. 

Alsine macrocarpa Fenzl. Eriophorum angustifolium Roth, 

„ rubella Wg, „ russeolum Fr, 

Sagina nivalis Fr, „ Scheuchzeri Hoppe. 

Oxyria digyua (L.) Hill, Carex ursina Desv. 

Polygonum viviparum L. „ aquatilis Wg, 

Salix arctica Pall, Juncus bigluniis L. 

,, reticulata L. Luzula hyperborea R. Br. 

„ polaris Wg. „ arctica Bl. 

Poa arctica R. Br. Lloydia serotina (L.) Reichenb. 

,, pratensis L. 

^ Before our departure, I had througli the Swedish Foreign Office obtained 
from the Russian Government letters patent in which the Russian authorities 
with whom we might come in contact were instructed to give us all the 
assistance that circumstances mis-ht call for. 



270 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cuap. 

to our voyage. If the coast had been followed the whole time, 
if the weather had been clear and the navigable water sufficiently 
surveyed, so that it had been possible to keep the course of 
the vessel near the land, the voyage of the Vega to the mouth 
of the Lena would never have been obstructed by ice, and I am 
convinced that this will happen year after year during the close 
of August, at least between the Yenisej and the Lena. For 
I believe that the place where ice-obstacles will perhaps be met 
with most frequently will not be the north point of Asia, but 
the region east of the entrance to the Kara Sea. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The voyage of the Fraser and the Express up the Yenisej and their return 
to Norway — Contract for the piloting of the Lena up the Lena river — 
The voyage of the Lena through the delta and up the river to Yakutsk 
— The natural state of Siberia in general — The river territories — The 
fitness of the land for cultivation and the necessity for improved com- 
munications — The great rivers, the future commercial highways of 
Siberia — Voyage up the Yenisej in 1875 — Sibiriakoff's Island — The 
tundra — The primeval Siberian forest — The inhabitants of Western 
Siberia : the Russians, the Exiles, the "Asiatics" — -Ways of travelling 
on the Yenisej : dog-boats, floating trading stores propelled by steam 
— New prospects for Siberia. 

I HAVE mentioned in the Introduction that the Vega during 
the first part of the voyage was accompanied by three other 
vessels, which together with the principal vessel of the Expedi- 
tion stood at my disposal and under my orders, and I have stated 
in passing that their voyages too deserve a place in the history 
of navigation. Now, when we were parted from the vessel 
which had accompanied the Vega farthest in her route eastwards, 
it may be the proper place to give a brief account of the close 
of the voyages of the Fraser, the Expo-ess, and the Lena, and 
give reasons for what I have said of the importance of these 
voyages. 

On the 9th August at 10 a.m., after Mr. Serebrenikoff had 
gone on board the Express to take command, as Sibiriakoff's 
commissioner, of the two vessels bound for the Yenisej, the 
Eraser, with the Express in tow, started from Port Dickson for 
the river. The voyage passed without other adventures than 
that in consequence of unacquaintance with the navigable 
waters the vessel sometimes gently grounded. On the 11th 
August Korepovskoj was reached, the same place where I laid up 
in 1876 the goods which I had brought with me in the Ymer. 
Here my old friend from my voyages of 1875 and 1876, the 



VIII.] 



NAVIGATION OF THE YENISEJ. 



271 



Cossack Feodor, was taken on board. He however proved now 
as unskilful a pilot as before. Notwithstanding his eKperienco 
in 1876, when he several times ran the Ymer aground, he had 
not yet got a clear idea of the difference between the build of 
an ocean vessel and of the common flat-bottomed Yenisej 
lighters, and his conception of the responsibility of a pilot was 
expressed by his seeking, when he was allowed to take his own 
course, to forget in the arms of sleep all dangers and difficulties. 
Mr. Serebrenikoff and the captains of the vessels were there- 
fore themselves compelled by means of frequent soundings, 
which were commonly made from a steam launch in advance, to 




THE STEAMER " FRASER." 



endeavour to find out the proper course. The navigable water 
between the level islands covered with bushy thickets and rich 
grassy meadows was often very narrow, but appears to have 
been pretty deep, as, even when the vessels went forward with- 
out the guidance of a skilful pilot, there was a depth of from 
5 to 30 metres ; and after a fisher, who knew the river better 
than Feodor, had been taken on board, it was found possible to 
go at full speed between the more southerly of the Briochov 
Islands^ in a depth of 30 to 50 metres. On 14th August the 
vessels reached Tolstojnos, where a very well preserved simovie 
is situated about 70" 10' N.L., 370 kilometres south of Port 

^ With this name, for want of another, I denote all the innumerable 
ishmds which lie in the Yenisej between 69° 45' and 71° N.L. 



272 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Dickson. On the 15th August they anchored in a good haven 
at Saostrovskoj, a simovie lying 100 kilometres farther up the 
river at the limit of trees, where the goods were to be discharged 
and another cargo taken on board. After a jetty had been 
constructed on the 16th, the landing of the goods began on the 
17th, and was finished on the 20th. The Fraser went still farther 
up the river to Dudino, in order to load various goods laid up 
there — tallow, wheat, rye, and oats. On the 2nd September 
the steamer returned to Saostrovskoj, where in the meantime 
the Express had taken on board her cargo. 

Dudino is a (5hurch village, situated at the point where the 
river Dudinka flows into the Yenisej. Here live two priests, a 
smotritel (a police official), a couple of exiles, some Russian 
workmen, and a number of natives, as well as the owner of the 
place, the influential merchant SoTNiKOFF. This active and 
able man is in an economical point of view ruler over the whole 
of the surrounding region, all whose inhabitants are in one way 
or other dependent upon him. He exchanges grain, brandy, 
sugar, tea, iron goods, powder and lead, cloth and leather, for 
furs, fish, mammoth-ivory, &c. ; and these goods are sent by 
steamer to Yenisejsk to be forwarded from thence to China, 
Moscow, St. Petersburg, &c. Among other things he is also the 
owner of very thick coal-seams in the Noril Mountains lying 
about 60 kilometres from Dudino, This simple and unostenta- 
tious man has been very obliging to all the scientific men who 
have visited the region. His dwelling, situated in the neighbour- 
hood of the limit of trees, is probably the stateliest palace of 
the Siberian tundra, admired by natives from far and near. It 
is built of large logs, consists of two stories, has a roof painted 
green, many windows with decorated frames painted white and 
blue ; the rooms are warm, provided with carpets of furs, pot- 
flowers in the windows, numerous sacred pictures, photographs, 
and copper engravings. 

On the 7th September all was ready for departure. The 
Fraser and Express weighed anchor to commence the return 
voyage down the river. At Tolstojnos two days after they met 
the steamer MosJcwa'^ of Bremen, Captain Dallmann, having on 

^ The Mosliwa was the first steamer which penetrated from the Atlantic to 
the town of Yenisejsk. The principal dates of this voyage may therefore 
be quoted here. 

Baron Knoop, along Avith several Russian merchants, had chartered in 
1878 a steamer, the Louise ; but this vessel stranded on the coast of Nor- 
way, The Zaritza, another Norwegian steamer, was chartered instead to 
carry the Louise's goods to their destination. But this vessel too stranded 
at the mouth of the Yenisej, and was abandoned by the crew, who were 
rescued by a small steamer, the Moshva, which accompanied the Zaritza. In 
this steamer Captain Dallmann, the Bremen merchant Helwig Schmidt, and 
Ehlertz, an official in the Russian finance office, now travelled up the river. 
The Moslcwa had a successful voyage, arriving on the 4th September at 



VIII.] FIRST EXPORTS BY SEA FROM SIBERIA. 273 

board the crew of the Norwegian steamer Zaritza, Captain Brun, 
which had stranded at the mouth of the Yenisej and been 
abandoned by the crew. In the case of this stranding, however, 
the damage done had not been greater than that, when the 
Fraser fell in with the stranded Zaritza, it could be pumped dry, 
taken off the shoal, and, the engine having first been put in 
order, carried back to Norway. On the 19th September all the 
three vessels arrived at Matotschkin Sound, where they lay 
some days in Beluga Bay in order to take in water and trim 
the cargo and coal ; after which on the 22nd of the same month 
they sailed through the sound to the west, and on the 26th 
anchored at Hammerfest in good condition and with full cargoes.^ 
The goods, which now for the first time were carried from the 
Yenisej to Europe, consisted of about 600 tons — tallow, wheat, 
rye and oats. The goods imported into Siberia consisted mainly 
of 16 tons nails, 8 tons horseshoes, 4 tons horsenails, 16|- tons 
bar iron, 33 tons tobacco, 60 tons salt, 24 casks petroleum, an 
iron lighter in pieces with the necessary adjuncts of anchors, k,c} 
Before I begin to give an account of the voyage of the Lena 
I must briefly mention the steps which Mr. Sibiriakoff took for 
her safety during her voyage from the mouth of the river, where 
she was to part from the Vega, to her proper destination, the town 
of Yakutsk. It is naturally very difficult for a vessel to seek 
her way without a pilot through an extensive delta completely 
unknown in a hydrographic respect, and crossed by a large 
number of deeper or shallower river arms. Mr. Sibiriakoff had 
therefore arranged that a river pilot should meet the Lena at the 
north point of the delta, and had through Mr. Kolesoff negoti- 
ated with him the following contract, which I reproduce here in 
full, because it gives in several respects a very graphic picture 
of various social relations in these remote regions. The copy of 
the contract which has been communicated to me when 
translated runs thus : — 

At Yakutsk, in the year one thousand eight hundred and 
seventy-eight on the 18th February, I, the undersigned Yakut 

Goltschicha, passing Turuchansk in consequence of a number of delays 
only on the 24th September, reaching Podkamenaja Tunguska on the Ist 
October, and on the 14th of the same month its destination, a winter 
harbour on the Tschorna river, some miles north of Yenisejsk. (Fahrt auf 
dem Yenissej von der Miindung bis Yenisejsk im Sommer 1878 ; Petermann's 
Mittheilungen, 1879, p 81.) 

1 The particulars of the voyages of these vessels are taken from a copy 
vv^hich I have received of Captain Emil Nilsson's log. 

^ The goods carried by me and by Wiggins to the Yenisej in 1876, 
and those which Schwanenberg carried thence in 1877, were properly only 
samples on a somewhat large scale. I have no knowledge of the goods 
which the Zaritza had on board when she ran aground at the mouth of 
the Yenisej. 

T 



274 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap, 

Afonasii Feodoeoff Winokuroff, have concluded the follow- 

incf contract with IvAN Platonowitsch Kolesoff, merchant 

of the second guild in the town of Yakutsk. 

J, 1. I, Winokuroff bind myself as pilot to carry the vessel of 

III Professor Nordenskiold's expedition up the river Lena from the 

village Tas-Ary, which lies about 150 versts below the village 

Bulun. From Tumat Island, which is situated in the north- 

II eastern part of the Lena delta, I bind myself for the piloting of 

I the same vessel to procure at my own cost among the inhabitants 
of the place a pilot who knows well the deepest channel of the 

II Lena river as far as the village Tas-Ary. This pilot the chief 
|( of the expedition shall discharge at the village Tas-Ary. 

2. As I am not master of the Russian language I bind my- 
self to bring along with me a Yakut interpreter, who knows the 
Russian language and is able to write. In May of this year, I, 
Winokuroff, with the interpreter shall travel from the town 
of Yakutsk down the Lena river to Tumat Island and there 
along with the interpreter Avait for the expedition. 

3. During the passage down the river I am bound to hire 
among the inhabitants of the regions a competent guide, who 
shall accompany us in my own boats to the island by the 
deepest channel in the Lena delta. During the passage from 
the village Tas-Ary I shall take soundings and record the depth 
of the fairway. 

4. Between the village Bulun and Tumat Island, I bind 
myself to seek for two places for the wintering of the vessel, 
which are quite suitable for the purpose, and protected from ice. 
I shall further lay before the commander of the expedition a 
journal containing everything which I can find that it would be 
advantageous to know for the safety of navigation and for the 
wintering of the vessels, also accounts of the places which are 

j.j dangerous or unsuitable for navigation. 

f| '5. On my arrival at Tumat Island I shall make it my first 

duty to find a deep and convenient haven for the seagoing vessels 
on the western side of the island. For this purpose I bind myself 
to have with me two boats, which, if necessary, shall be given 
over to the expedition. At the haven when found I bind myself 
to erect on some eminence near the shore of the island, which 
can be seen from Cape Olonek, a signal tower of driftwood or 
earth, like a Cossack mound, not lower than seven feet. On 
this foundation I shall raise a pyramidal frame of three or more 
thick logs, on the top of which I shall fix a flagstaff with a 
pulley block for the flag. The flag is to be flown at least 42 
feet from the ground. I shall guard the landmark thus erected 
until the river freezes. For this purpose Herr Kolesoff has 
provided me with a ready-made flag, a pulley block and a line. 
And when the nights become dark I shall light two or three 



VIII.] CONTRACT WITH A PILOT. 275 

large fires or hang up lanterns on the landmark itself, so that 
these fires or lanterns may be seen from the sea. 

6. From the village Tas-Ary I shall carry the vessel of the 
expedition to the town of Yakutsk, inasmuch as I shall show 
the proper fairway on the Lena river. The interpreter shall be 
at my side during the whole journey. 

7. During the whole time from the day when I start from 
Yakutsk, up to the close of my time of service in Nordenskiold's 
expedition we, I, Winokuroff, and my interpreter, must be always 
sober (never intoxicated), behave faithfully and courteously, and 
punctually comply with the captain's orders. 

8. For all these obligations Herr Kolesofif has to pay me 900 
roubles. 

9. After the arrival of the expedition at Yakutsk I will not 
be allowed to leave the ship without the permission of the chief, 
but shall still remain on board. If the captain finds it necessary 
that I accompany him back to the mouth of the Lena, I shall 
conform to his wish in consideration of an extra fee of 300 
roubles. During this latter passage I am not bound to have 
with me any interpreter. 

10. If the arrival of the expedition at Tumat Island is delayed 
by any circumstance to the month of November, I have the 
right to betake myself along with my interpreter to Yakutsk 
and here to produce to Herr Kolesoif an official certificate given 
by Commandant Baschleff or any other local official that I had 
erected a landmark on Tumat Island and remained there until the 
river was frozen over, and that I did not leave until the expedi- 
tion was no longer to be expected. Then Herr Kolesoff on the 
ground of this contract must settle with me by paying me the 
whole sum of 900 roubles, together with 200 roubles for 
my return journey. 

11. If the vessel of the expedition arrive at Tumat Island so 
late that the voyage becomes impossible, we, I and my interpreter, 
shall winter with the expedition until the river becomes open 
in 1879. And in this case we, I and my interpreter, shall 
live at our own expense, and serve the expedition as belonging 
to its crew. After the commencement of navigation in 1879 
I shall conduct the vessel from the wintering station to the town 
of Yakutsk. On this account I have to receive, besides the 900 
roubles coming to me, 800 roubles more. If during this voyage 
too it should be necessary to accompany the vessels from 
Yakutsk back to the mouth of the Lena, I shall do that, and 
receive on that account 300 roubles. But if the vessels, 
winter at Yakutsk, I shall be free during winter, and only 
during next year's voyage, if so required, accompany them 
to the mouth of the Lena. In that case I have to receive 300 
roubles. 

T 9 



270 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

12. Of this sum agreed upon ITerr Kolesoff shall pay me in 
advance on tlio conclusion of this contract 300 roubles, in the 
montli of May at my departure 150 roubles, and at the village 
Bulun 250 roubles, for my payment to my companions and pilot 
and other oxponsos. The balance shall be' paid to me after 
my return to Yakutsk. 

13. In the month of May, at the time for starting, if I be pre- 
vented by illness from betaking myself to Tumat Island, I shall 
repay to Herr Kolesoff the sum paid to me at the conclusion of 
tliis contract, with the exception of the money I have paid to 
tlie interpreter as pocket-money and for the boats. Should I 
not be able to repay the sum, I, Winokuroff, shall work out the 
amount not repaid at Herr Sibiriakoff's gold mines. 

14. All this are we, tlie two contracting parties, bound to 
observe in full and without infringement. 

A note to the copy further informs us that to this contract 
the Yakut Afonasii Feodoroff Winokuroff had, in place of his 
signature, attached his own seal, which the Yakut Alexii 
Zassimoff Mironoff had engraved, and that the conditions had 
been a])provcd by the merchant Ivan Kolesoff, and the whole 
registered at the police-office of the Yakutsk circle. 

The contract had been entered into with the friendly co-ope- 
ration of the Governor and Bishop of Yakutsk, who were much 
interested in the proposed voyage. The latter knew the coast 
of the Polar Sea from his own experience. But notwithstanding 
n,ll this, the affair was attended with no better success than that 
the pilot celebrated the recei})t of the large sum of money by 
getting thoroughly intoxicated, and while in that state he broke 
one of the bones of tlie fore-arm. He was thus unable ever to 
reach the appointed rendezvous, and Johannesen was allowed to 
manage by his own hand, as best he could, his little steamer. 

After the Lena had parted with the Vega during the night 
between the 27th and 28th August, she steamed towards land, 
and came the same day to the northernmost cape of the Lena 
delta, situated in 73° 47' N.L.^ It was here that the pilot's 
landniark was to liave been erected, but there was no pilot liere, 
and no Hagstaff Avas visible. In order to fall in with this land- 
mark Johannesen sailed forty kilometres westward along the 
shore, but as his search in tliis direction was not attended with 
success, he tiunied back to the first-mentioned place and landed 
there. On the shore stood a very old hut, already completely 
iilled with earth. It probably dated from some of the expe- 
ditions which visited the region in the beginning of the century. 

^ According to JolmTinoscn's determinfition. On Wningel's m.-ip the 
latitude of this cape is .i^'ivcii as 73'^ 30'. Jiiliamieseii found the longitude 
to be Vlb° 31' instead of 127°. 



VIII.] 



SEAECHING FOE THE LANDMAEK. 



277 



Wild reindeer were seen in large numbers. As according to the 
contract which has been quoted the landmark was to be visible 
from Cape Olonek, Johannesen steamed once more to the west, 
running as close to the land as possible. But as the water here 
became shallower and shallower without any signal-tower being 
visible, Johannesen had to find his way himself through the 
delta; and for this purpose he determined to search for the 
easternmost arm of the river, which, on the maps, is drawn 
as being very broad, and also appears to have been made use of 
by the vessels of " the great northern expeditions." ^ 




THE STEAMEE "LENA. 



Forty kilometres east of the northern extremity of the Lena 
delta Johannesen encountered three sandbanks, which he sailed 



1 According to Latkin (Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1879, p. 92), llieLena 
delta is crossed by seven main arms, the westernmost of which is 
called Anatartisch. It debouches into the sea at a cape 58 feet high 
named Ice Cape (Ledjanoi). Next come the river arm Bjelkoj, then Tumat, 
at whose mouth a landmark erected by Laptev in 1739 is still in existence. 
Then come the other three main arms, Kychistach, Trofimov, and Kisch- 
Idch, and finally the very broad eastmost arm, Bychov. Probably some of 
the smaller river arms are to be preferred for sailing up the river to this 
broad arm, which is fouled by shoals. 



278 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHA.r. 



round. After passing these tlie water became deeper, so that 
he could advance at a distance of five kilometres from land. 
On the 1st September Johannesen anchored in a bay on the 
mainland in the neighbourhood of the Bychov mouth, whence 
on the 3rd September, at 2.30 a.m., he continued his course up 
the river, but by 10 o'clock the Lena was aground. The water 
was falling, and did not begin to rise until an hour after mid- 
night. It was not, therefore, until 8 a.m. the following day 
that the Lena was got off, and that with great difficulty. The 
sailing through the delta was rendered difficult by the maps, 
which were made 140 years ago, being now useless. For the 




HA.NS CHRISTIAN JOHANNESEN. 

Captain of the "Lena." Born in 1846. 



delta has undergone great alterations since then. Where at 
that time there were sandbanks, there are now large islands, 
overgrown with wood and grass. At other places again whole 
islands have been washed away by the river. 

While the vessel was aground nine Tunguses came on board 
They rowed in small boats, which were made of a single tree 
stem, hollowed out, and could just carry a man each. Johan- 
nesen endeavoured in vain to induce some of the Tunguses to 
pilot the steamer ; he did not succeed in explaining his wish to 
them, notwithstanding all the attempts of the Russian inter- 
preter, a proof of the slight contact these Tunguses had had 



viii.J A THANKSGIVING SERVICE. 279 

with" the rulers of Siberia, and also of the difficulty and un- 
willingness with which the savage learns the language of the 
civilised nations. 

It was not until the 7th September that the delta was finally 
passed, and the Le,7m steamed in the river proper, where the 
fairway became considerably better. Johannesen says in his 
account of the voyage that it is improbable that any of the 
western arms of the Lena are of importance, partly because the 
mass of water which flows in an easterly direction is very 
considerable in comparison with the whole quantity of water in 
the river, partly because the western and northern arms which 
Johannesen visited contained only salt water, while the water 
in the eastern arm was completely free from any salt taste. On 
the 8th, early in the morning, the first fixed dwelling-place on 
the Lena, Tas-Ary, was reached. Here the voyagers landed to 
get information about the fairway, but could not enter into 
communication with the natives, because they were Tunguses, 
In the afternoon of the same day they came to another river 
village, Bulun. Impatient to proceed, and supposing that it 
too was inhabited wholly by " Asiatics," ^ Johannesen intended 
to pass it without stopping. But when the inhabitants saw the 
steamer they welcomed it with a salute from all the guns that 
could be got hold of in haste. ^ The Lena then anchored. Two 
Crown officials and a priest came on board, and the latter 
performed a thanksgiving service. 

Even at that remote spot on the border of the tundra the 
Asiatic comprehended very well the importance of vessels from 
the great oceans being able to reach the large rivers of Siberia, 
I too had a proof of this in the year 1875. While still rowing 
up the river in my own Nordland boat with two scientific men 
and three hunters, before we got up with the steamer Alexander 
we landed, among others, at a place where a number of Dolgans 
were collected. When they understood clearly that we had 
come to them, not as brandy-sellers or fish-buyers from the 
south, but from the north, from the ocean, they went into com- 
plete ecstasies. We were exposed to unpleasant embraces from 
our skin-clad admirers, and finally one of us had the misfortune 
to get a bath in the river in the course of an attempt which the 
Dolgans in their excitement made to carry him almost with 
violence to the boat, which was lying in the shallow water some 
distance from the shore. At iJudino, also, the priests living 
there held a thanksgiving service for our happy arrival thither. 
Two of them said mass, while the clerk, clad in a sheepskin 
caftan reaching to his feet, zealously and devoutly swung an 

^ A common name used in Siberia for all the native races. 

^ This has been incorrectly interpreted as if they shot at the vessel. 



280 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

immense censer. The odour from it was at first not particularly 
pleasant, but it soon became so strong and disagreeable that 1, 
who had my place in front of the audience, was like to choke, 
though the ceremony was performed in the open air. Soon the 
clerk was completely concealed in a dense cloud of smoke, and 
it was now observed that his skin cloak had been set fire to at 
the same time as the incense. The service, however, was not 
interrupted by this incident, but the fire was merely extin- 
guished by a bucket of water being thrown, to the amusement 
of all, over the clerk. 

At nine in the morning the Lena continued her voyage up 
the river with the priest and the Crown officials on board, but 
they had soon to be landed, because in their joy they had 
become dead drunk. On the 13th September Schigansk was 
reached, and samples of the coal found there were taken 
on board, but these proved unserviceable,-^ and on the 21st 
September the Lena reached Yakutsk. The first vessel which, 
coming from the ocean, reached the heart of Siberia was 
received with great goodwill and hospitality, both by the 
authorities and the common people. But when Johannesen did 
not find here Sibiriakoff's representative, Kolesoff, he continued 
his voyage up the river, until, on the 8th October, he came to 
the village Njaskaja, 220 versts from Vitim, in about 60° N.L. 
Here he turned back to Yakutsk and laid up the steamer in 
winter quarters a little to the south of that town. 

Both the Fraser and Express and the Leiia had thus fully 
answered the purposes intended before the departure of the 
expedition, and their voyages will always form an important 
link in the chain of the attempts through which navigation in 
the Siberian Polar Sea has been opened. 

In order to give an idea of the influence which this sea-route 
may have on the commerce of the world, and the new source of 
fortune and prosperity which thereby may be rendered accessible 
to millions, I shall in a few words give an account of the nature 
of the territory which by means of this sea-communication 
will be brought into contact with the old civilised countries 
of Europe. 

If we take Siberia in its widest sense, that is to say, if we 
include under that name not only Siberia proper, but also the 
pirts of High Asia which lie round the sources of the great 
Siberian rivers, this land may very well be compared in extent, 

1 A coal seam is often unfit for use near the surface, where for centuries 
it has been uncovered and exposed to the action of the atmosphere, while 
farther down it may yield very good coal. It is probable besides that the 
layers of shale, which often surround the coal seams, have in this case 
been mistaken for the true coal. For those who are inexperienced in coal- 
mining to make such a mistake is the rule and not the exception. 



VIII.] IMPORTANCE OF THE SEA-EOUTE TO SIBERIA. 281 

climate, fertility, and the possibility of supporting a dense 
population, with America north of 40° N.L, Like America, 
Siberia is occupied in the north by woodless plains. South of 
this region, where only the hunter, the fisher, and the reindeer 
nomad can find a scanty livelihood, there lies a widely extended 
forest territory, difficult of cultivation, and in its natural condi- 
tions, perhaps, somewhat resembling Sweden and Finland north 
of 60° or 61° N.L. South of this wooded belt, again, we have, 
both in Siberia and America, immeasurable stretches of an 




YAKUTSK IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUEV. 

(After Witsen.) 



exceedingly fertile soil, of whose power to repay the toil of the 
cultivator the grain exports during recent years from the fron- 
tier lands between the United States and Canada have afforded 
so striking evidence. There is, however, this dissimilarity 
between Siberia and America, that while the products of the 
soil in America may be carried easily and cheaply to the 
harbours of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the best part of 
Siberia, that which lies round the upper part of the courses of 
the Irtisch-Ob and the Yenisej, is shut out from the great 
oceans of the world by immense tracts lying in front of it, and 



■282 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



the great rivers which in Siberia cross the country and appear 
to be intended by nature to form not only the arteries for its 
inner life, but also channels of communication with the rest of 
the world, all flow towards the north and fall into a sea which, 
down to the most recent times, has been considered completely 
inaccessible. 

Of these rivers the double river, Ob-Irtisch, with its numerous 
affluents, occupies an area of more than 60,000 geographical 







YAKUTSK IN OUR DAYS. 

(After a recent Russian drawing.) 

square miles, the Yenisej -Angara, not quite 50,000, and the 
Lena, somewhat over 40,000.^ As the map of the river system 

1 In order not to write, without due examination about figures which 
have been written about a thousand times before, I have, with the help of 
Petermann's map of North and Middle Asia in Stieler's Hand- Atlas, cal- 
culated the extent of the areas of the Siberian rivers, and found them 
to'be : — , 



Square 
kilometres. 



Eiver area of the Ob (with the Tas) . . . 3,445,000 
,, ,, „ Yenisej ... ... 2,712,000 

„ „ „ Lena 2,395,000 

Of these areas 4,966,000 square kilometres, or about 90,000 geographical 

square miles, lie south of 60° N.L. 



Geographical 
square miles. 

62,560 
49,250 
43,500 




Afli-v A-Pi'lmuimii'sMap of Ncn^th. ^J\A Middle Asia in Stiolera lland-Atlaa , 



vm.] THE RIVER SYSTEM OF SIBERIA.' 283 

of Siberia, which accompanies this work, shows, but a small part 
of these enormous territories lies north of the Arctic Circle, and 
only very inconsiderable portions of it are occupied by woodless 
tundra, which is explained by the fact that the greater part of 
the coast-land bordering on the Arctic Ocean is drained by 
small rivers of its own, and therefore cannot.be considered to 
belong to the river territories now in question. If we draw the 
northern boundary of the land that may be cultivated with 
advantage at 60° N.L., there remains a cultivable area of 
90,000 geographical square miles. Perhaps a third part of this 
is occupied by rocky country which is wooded, and probably 
capable of being cultivated only with considerable difficulty, 
but the rest consists for the most part of easily cultivated 
grassy plains, with little wood, and covered with the most 
luxuriant vegetation. The soil, in many places resembling 
the black earth or vtscherno-sem of Russia, recompenses with 
abundant harvests even the slightest labour of cultivation. 
Notwithstanding this, these regions now support only an exceed- 
ingly sparse population, but many, many millions may without 
ditticulty find their subsistence there when once cultivation has 
developed the rich natural resources of the country. 

It is a circumstance specially fortunate for the future develop- 
ment of Siberia that its three great rivers are already navigable 
for the greater part of their course. The Ob is navigable from 
Biisk (52^° N.L.), and the Irtisch at least from Semipalitinsk 
(50" 18' N.L.). The Yenesej, again, which, after leaving the 
region of its sources in China, crosses with its two main arms 
the whole of Siberia from north to south, from the fortyrsixth to 
the seventy-third degree of latitude, and thus traverses a terri- 
tory which corresponds in length to the distance between Venice 
and the North Cape, or between the mouth of the Mississippi 
and the north part of Lake Winnipeg, and is already navigable 
by nature from the sea to Yenisejsk. To this town goods are 
already transported down both the main arms from Minusinsk 
and the region of Lake Baikal. It is said that the Angara 
might be made quite navigable during its whole course at an 
expenditure trifling in comparison with the advantages that 
would thus be gained, as well as its continuation, the Selenga, 
in its lower part between the Chinese frontier and Lake Baikal. 
la this way a river route would be opened for the conveyance of 
the products of North China and South Siberia to a sea which 
an ordinary steamer would cross in five or six days to the White 
Sea or the North Cape. A similar communication with the 
Atlantic may be opened on the double river Ob-Irtisch with 
Western Siberia and High Asia as far as to Chinese Dsungaria, 
where the Irtisch begins its course as a small river, the Black 
Irtisch, which falls into Lake Saisan, and rises south of the 



284 ' THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Altai Mountains in the neighbourhood of the Selenga, the 
source-river of the Yenisej. At several places the river terri- 
tories of the Ob and the Yenesej nearly reach hands to one 
another through affluents, which rise so close to each other that 
the two river systems might easily be connected by canals. 
This is also the case with the affluents of the Yenesej and the 
Lena, which at many places almost meet, and the Lena itself 
is, according to Latkin's statement, navigable from the village 
of Kotschuga to the sea. We see from this how extraordinarily 
advantageous is the natural system of interior communication 
which Siberia possesses, and at the same time that a communica- 
tion by sea between this country and the rest of the world is pos- 
sible only by the Arctic Ocean. It is on this that the enormous 
importance of the navigation of the Siberian Polar Sea depends. 
If this can be brought about, Siberia, with an inconsiderable 
expenditure in making canals, will not only become one of the 
most fortunate countries of the globe in respect of the possi- 
bility of the cheap transport of goods, but the old proposal of a 
north-eastern commercial route to China may even become a 
reality. If, on the other hand, navigation on the Polar Sea 
be not brought about, Siberia will still long remain what it is 
at present — a land rich in raw materials, but poor in all 
that is required for the convenience and comfort with which the 
civilised man in our days can with difficulty dispense. 

Many perhaps believe that the present want of commercial 
communication may be removed by a railway running across 
Russia and Southern Siberia. But this is by no means the 
case. On the contrary, communication by sea is an indispens- 
able condition of such a railway being profita,bIe. For it can 
never come in question to carry on a railway the products of 
the forest or the field over the stretch of three to five thousand 
kilometres which separates the fertile river territory of the Ob- 
Irtisch from the nearest European port. Even if we suppose 
that the railway freight, inclusive of all costs, could be reduced 
to a farthing the kilometre-ton, it would in any case rise, from 
the grain regions of Siberia to a harbour on the Baltic, to from 
41. to nearly 71. per ton. So high a freight, with the costs of 
loading in addition, none of the common products of agriculture 
or forestry can stand, as may easily be seen if we compare this 
amount with the prices current in the markets of the world 
for wheat, rye, oats, barley, timber, &c. But if the Siberian 
countryman cannot sell his raw products, the land will continue 
to be as thinly peopled as it is at present, nor can the 
sparse population which will be found there procure themselves 
means to purchase such products of the industry of the present 
day as are able to bear long railway carriage. In the absence of 
contemporaneous sea-communication the railway will therefore 



VIII.] NATUEAL CONDITIONS OF SIBEEIA. 285 

be witliout traffic, the land such as it is at present, and 
the uDprosperous condition of the European population 
undiminished. 

In order to give the reader an idea of the present natural 
conditions, and the present communication on a Siberian river 
I shall, before returning to the sketch of the voyage of the 
Vega, give some extracts from notes made during my journey 
up the Yenesej in 1875, reminding the reader, however, that 
the natural conditions of the Ob-Irtisch and the Lena differ 
considerably from those of the Yenisej, the Ob-Irtisch flowing 
through lower, more fertile, and more thickly peopled regions, 
the Lena again through a wilder, more beautiful, but less 
cultivated country. 

When one travels up the river from Port Dickson, the broad 
sound between Sibiriakoflf's Island and the mainland is first 
passed, but the island is so low that it is not visible from the 
eastern bank of the river arm which is usually followed in 
sailing up or down the river. The mainland, on the other hand, 
is at first high-lying, and in sailing along the coast it is possible 
to distinguish various spurs of the range of hills, estimated to 
be from 150 to 200 metres high, in the interior. These are 
free of snow in summer. A little south of Port Dickson they 
run to the river bank, where they form a low rock and rocky 
island projecting into the river, named after some otherwise 
unknown Siberian Polar trapper, Yefremov Kamen. 

Sibiriakoff's Island has never, so far as we know, been visited 
by man, not even during the time when numerous simovies were 
found at the mouth of the Yenesej. For no indication of this 
island is found in the older maps of Siberia, although these, as 
appears from the fac-simile reproduced at page 147, give the 
names of a number of simovies at the mouth of the Yenisej, 
now abandoned. Nor is it mentioned in the accounts of the 
voyages of the great northern expeditions. The western strand 
of the island, the only one I have seen, completely bore the 
stamp of the tundra described below. Several reindeer were 
seen pasturing on the low grassy eminences of the island, giving 
promise of abundant sport to the hunter who first lands 
there. 

Still at Yefremov Kamen we saw in 1875 three Polar bears 
who appeared to pasture in all peacefulness among the rocks, 
and did not allow themselves to be disturbed by the enormous 
log-fire of driftwood we liofhted on the strand to make our 
coffee. Here were found for the last time during our journey 
up the river actual marine animals : Appendicularia, Clio, 
medusae, large beroids, &c. Large bushy plants were still com- 
pletely wanting, but the vegetable Avorld already began to 
assume a stamp differing from the Arctic Ocean flora proper. A 



286 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap 



short distance south of Yefremov Kamen begins the veritable 
tundra, a woodless plain, interrupted by no mountain heights, 
with small lakes scattered over it, and narrow valleys crossing 
it, which often make an excursion on the apparently level plain 
exceedingly tiresome. 

As is the case with all the other Siberian rivers running from 
south to north,^ the western strand of the Yenisej, wherever it 
is formed of loose, earthy layers, is also quite low and often 
marshy, while on the other hand the eastern strand consists of 
a steep bank, ten to twenty metres high, which north of the 




BIVER VIEW ON THE YENISEJ. 

(From a drawing by A. N. LundstriJm.) 



limit of trees is distributed in a very remarkable way into 
pyramidal pointed mounds. Numerous shells of Crustacea 
found here, belonging to species which still live in the Polar 
Sea, show that at least the upper earthy layer of the tundra 

1 For the northern hemisphere it is a general rule that where rivers 
flow through loose, earthy strata in a direction deviating considerably 
from that of the parallels of latitude, the right bank, when one stands 
facing the mouth of the river, is high, and the left low. The cause 
of this is the globular form of the earth and its rotation, which gives 
rivers flowing north a tendency towards the east, and to rivers flowing 
south a tendency to the west. This tendency is resisted by the bank, 
but it is gradually ea,ten into and washed away by degrees, so that the 
river bed, in the course of thousands of years, is shifted in the direction 
indicated. 



VIII.] THE TUNDRA. 287 

was deposited in a sea resembling that wliicli now washes the 
north coast of Siberia.-^ 

The tundra itself is in summer completely free of snow, but 
at a limited depth from the surface the ground is continually 
frozen. At some places the earthy strata alternate with strata 
of pure, clear ice. It is in these frozen strata that complete 
carcases of elephants and rhinoceroses have been found, which 
have been protected from putrefaction for hundreds of thousands 
of years. Such finds, however, are uncommon, but on the 
other hand single bones from this primeval animal world occur 
in rich abundance, and along with them masses of old drift- 
wood, originating from the Mammoth period, known by the 
Russian natives of Siberia under the distinctive name of 
" Noah's wood." Besides there are to be seen in the most 
recent layer of the Yenesej tundra, considerably north of the 
present limit of actual trees, large tree-stems with their roots 
last in the soil, which show that the limit of trees in the 
Yenesej region, even during our geological period, went further 
north than now, perhaps as far as, in consequence of favourable 
local circumstances, it now goes on the Lena, 

On the slopes of the steep tundra bank and in several of the 
tundra valleys there is an exceedingly rich vegetation, which 
already, only 100 kilometres south of Yefremov Kamen, forms 
actual thickets of flowering plants, while the tundra itself is 
overgrown with an exceedingly scanty carpet, consisting more of 
mosses than of grasses. Sal ices of little height go as far 
north as Port Dickson (73° 30' N.L,), the dwarf birch {Bettda 
nana, L.) is met with, though only as a bush creeping along the 
ground, at Cape Schaitanskoj (72° 8' N.L.) ; and here in 1875, on 
the ice-mixed soil of the tundra, we gathered ripe cloudberries. 
Very luxuriant alders {Alnaster fruticosus, Ledeb.) occur already 
at Mesenkin (71° 28' N.L.), and the Briochov Islands (70° to 
71° N.L.), a,re in several places covered with rich and luxuriant 
thickets of bushes. But the limit of trees proper is considered 
to begin first at the great bend which the river makes in 

^ As specimens of the sub-fossil mollusc fauna of the tundra some of 
the common species are delineated on page 288. These are : — 

1. Mya arenaria, Lin. f of natural 9. Fusus fornicatus, Reeve. J. 

size. 10. Fusus tomatus, Gould. -|. 

2. Mya truncata, Lin. var. Udcle- ' IL Margarita elegantissima, Bean. 

vallensis, Forbes. -|. Natural size. 

3. Saxicava pholadis, Lin. §. 12, Pleurotoma pLicifera, Wood. 

4. Tellina lata, G-mel. f. Natural size. 

5. Cardium ciliatum, Fabr. f . 13. Pleurotoma pyramid alts, Strom. 
G. Leda j^ernula, Miill. var. buccata, 1^. 

Steenstr. Natural size. 14. Tricliotropis horealis, Brod. 1^. 

7. iVwcii^a eapa«.sa, Reeve. Nat. size. lb. Natica helicoides, Johnst. Nat. 

8. Fusus Kroyeri, Moll, f . size. 




^t-o-v'-N 



SUB-FOSSIL MARINE CROSTACEA FROM THE TUNDRA. 



CHAP. VIII ] A PRIMEVAL FOEEST. 289 

69° 40' N.L., a little north of Dudino. Here the hills are 
covered" with a sort of wood consisting of half-withered, grey, 
moss-grown larches (Larix sibirica), which seldom reach a 
height of more than seven to ten metres, and which much less 
deserve the name of trees than the luxuriant alder bushes 
which grow nearly 2° farther north. But some few miles south 
of this place, and still far north of the Arctic Circle, the pine 
forest becomes tall. Here begins a veritable forest, the greatest 
the earth has to show, extending with little interruption from 
the Ural to the neighbourhood of the Sea of Ochotsk, and from 
the fift3'"-eighth or fifty-ninth degree of latitude to far north 
of the Arctic Circle, that is to say, about one thousand kilo- 
metres from north to south, and perhaps four times as much 
from east to west. It is a primeval forest of enormous extent, 
nearly untouched by the axe of the cultivator, but at many 
places devastated by extensive forest fires. 

On the high eastern bank of the Yenisej the forest begins 
immediately at the river bank. It consists principally of pines : 
the cembra pine (Pinus Cemhra, L.), valued for its seeds, enor- 
mous larches, the nearly awl-formed Siberian pine {Pinus 
sibirica, Ledeb.), the fir {Pinus obovata, TURCZ.), and scattered 
trees of the common pine {Pinus sylvestris, L.). Most of these 
already north of the Arctic Circle reach a colossal size, but in 
such a case are often here, far from all forestry, grey and half- 
dried up with age. Between the trees the ground is so covered 
with fallen branches and stems, only some of which are fresh, 
the others converted into a mass of wood-mould held together 
only by the bark, that there one willingly avoids going forward 
on an unbroken patli. If that must be done, the progress made 
is small, and there is constant danger of breaking one's bones 
in the labyrinth of stems. Nearly everywhere the fallen stems 
are covered, often concealed, by an exceedingly luxuriant bed of 
mosses, while on the other hand tree-lichens, probably in con- 
sequence of the dry inland climate of Siberia, occur sparingly. 
The pines, therefore, want the shaggy covering common in 
Sweden, and the bark of the birches which are seen here 
and there among the pines is distinguished by an uncommon 
blinding whiteness. 

The western bank of the Yenesej consists, like the innumer- 
able islands of the river, for the most part of low lying and 
marshy stretches of land, which at the season of the spring 
floods are overflowed by the river and abundantly manured with 
its mud. In this way there is formed here a fertile tract of 
meadow covered partly with a grassy turf untouched by the 
scythe, partly with a very peculiar bush vegetation, rising to a 
height of eight metres, among which there are to be found a 
number of families of plants well known by us in Sweden, as 

u 



290 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Irapatiens, Urtica, Soncbus, Heracleum, &c., but in gigantic 
forms unknown at home. Often a dense thicket of a willow 
{Salix vitellenia, L.), whose straight, brancbless stems resemble 
at a distance the bamboo woods of the south, alternates with 
level, grassy carpets of a lively green and small streams in such 
a way as gives the whole the appearance of the most smiling 
park carefully kept free of fallen branches and dry grass. It is 
the river water which in spring has played the gardener's part 
in these parks, seldom trodden by the foot of man and endlessly 
rich in the most splendid greenery. Near the river there are 
also to be found carpets of a uniform green, consisting of a 
short kind of Equisetum, unmixed with any other plants, which 
forms a " gazon," to which no nobleman's country seat can show 
a match. The drawback is, that a stay in these regions during 
summer is nearly rendered impossible b}'' the enormous number 
of mosquitoes with which the air is infested. 

A table drawn up by Dr. Arnell, to be found in Redogorelse 
for de svcnsha expcditionerna till mynningen af Jeniscj dr J 8 76,^ 
shows the distribution of the most important varieties of trees. 
From it we see that on the Yenesej the birch [Betula odorata, 
Bechst.), the fir (Pimts obovata, TuRCZ.), the larch {Pinus 
larix, L.), and the juniper (Jicniperus communis, L.), go to 
69° 35' N.L. (that is to say to the latitude of Tromsoe) ; the 
sallow {Salix caprea, L.) to 68° 55' ; the bird's cherry {Prunus 
jjadus, L.), and the Siberian pine (Pinus sihirica, Ledeb.), to 
66° 30'; the aspen {Populus tremida, L.) to 65° 55' (the latitude 
of Haparanda) ; the pine [Pinus sylvatica, L. ) to 65° 50', &c. 

In the middle of the forest belt the wood appears to cover 
the whole land without interruption, there being, unless 
exceptionally, no open places. But towards the north the forest 
passes into the treeless tundra through bare spots occurring 
here and there, which gradually increase, until trees grow only 
in valleys and sheltered places, and finally disappear completely. 
Similar is the passage of the forest to treeless regions (steppes), 
which at first are here and there bestrewed with more or less 
detached groups of broad-leaved trees, until they wholly dis- 
appear, and the land forms an endless plain, out of whose fertile 
soil the warm summer sun calls forth a great variety of 
luxuriant vegetable forms, whose many-hued flowers, often 
large and splendid, clothe the fields with the richest splendour 
of colour. Here is the true homeland of many of the show- 
plants in the flower-gardens of Europe, as, for instance, the 
peony, the Siberian robinia, the blue iris, &c. 
• If the Siberian wooded belt forms the most extensive forest 
in the world, this flower-steppe forms the world's greatest 
cultivable field, in all probability unequalled in extent and 

^ Bihang till Vet. Ahad. Handl. Bd. iv. No. 11, p. 42. 



vui.] RUSSIAN HOUSES. 291 

fertility. Without manure and with an exceedingly small 
amount of labour expended on cultivation, man will year by 
year draw forth from its black soil the most abundant harvests. 
For the present, however, this land, with its splendid capabili- 
ties for cultivation, has an exceedingly scanty population ; and 
this holds good in a yet higher degree of the forest belt, which 
is less susceptible of cultivation. At a considerable distance 
from the rivers it is for the most part an unknown land, where 
the European seldom or never sets his foot, and where only the 
native nomad or hunter wanders about. These forests, how- 
ever, are by no means so rich in game as might be expected, 
perhaps because the mosquitoes in summer are unendurable by 
warm-blooded animals. 

The main population in the forest belt consists of native nomad 
or hunting tribes, of which Samoyeds, Ostyaks, Tunguses, and 
Yakuts are the most numerous. Only along the rivers do we 
find Russian villages and peasant settlements, placed there for 
trading with the natives, for fishing, and at some places for 
washing gold. Not till we come to the middle of the country 
is the Russian population more numerous ; here it spreads out in 
a broad belt over the whole of the immense expanse between 
the Ural and the Angara. 

In the farthest north the Russian dwelling-places consist of 
single cabins built of logs or planks from broken-up lighters,^ 
and having flat, turf-covered roofs. Such carvings and orna- 
ments as are commonly found on the houses of the well-to-do 
Russian peasant, and whose artistic outlines indicate that the 
inhabitants have had time to think of something else than the 
satisfaction of the wants of the moment, are here completely 
wanting; but further south the villages are larger, and the 
houses finer, with raised roofs anci high gables richly ornamented 
with wood-carvings. A church, painted in bright colours, 
generally shows that one of the inhabitants of the village has 
become rich enough to be at the expense of this ornament to 
his native place. The whole indicates a degree of prosperity, 
and the interiors of the houses, if we except the cockroaches, 
which swarm everywhere, are very clean. The walls are orna- 
mented with numerous, if not very artistic, photographs and 
lithographs. Sacred pictures, richly ornamented, are placed in 
a corner, and before them hang several small oil-lamps, or small 
wax-lights, which are lighted on festive occasions. The sleep- 

1 Provisions and wares intended for trade with the natives are trans- 
ported on the Yenisej, as on many other Siberian rivers, down the stream 
in colossal lighters, i)uilt of planks like logs. It does not pay to take 
them up the river again, on which account, after their lading has been 
taken out of them, they are either left on the bank to rot or broken up for 
the timber. 

■u 2 



292 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



ing place is formed of a bedstead near the roof, so large that it 
occupies a half or a third of the room, and at such a height 
from the floor that one can stand upright under it. There 
a tropical heat commonly prevails, the occupant of the bed 
accordingly enjoying an almost constant sweat-bath, which does 
not prevent him from going out immediately into the open air 
at a temperature at which mercury freezes. Food is cooked in 
large baking ovens, which are fired daily for that purpose, and 
at the same time heat the cabin. Fresh bread is baked every 
day, and even for the poor a large tea-urn (samovar') is an almost 
indispensable household article. The foreigner is certain to 
receive a hearty and friendly welcome when he crosses the 




SIBERIAN RIVEB BOAT. 

Used by the Norwegian traveller Chr. Hansteen on the river Angara. 



threshold, and if he stays a short time in the cabin he will 
generally, whatever time of the day it be, find himself drink- 
ing a glass of tea with his host. The dress everywhere closely 
resembles the Russian : for the rich, wide velvet trousers stuck 
into the boots, a shirt showily embroidered with silver thread, 
and a large caftan often lined with fur ; for the poor, if not too 
ragged, the same cut, but the cloth inferior, dirty, and torn. 
During winter, however, for going out of doors, the Samoyed 
pesk is said to be common to high and low, Russian and native, 
settled and nomad. 

In my journey up the Yenesej in 1875 I met with only a 



Yin.] RUSSIAN EXILES. 293 

few persons in these regions who had been exiled thither for 
poHtical reasons, but on the other hand very many exiled 
criminals of the deepest dye — murderers, thieves, forgers, in- 
cendiaries, &c. Among them were also some few Fins and 
even a Swede, or at least one who, according to his own state- 
ment in broken Swedish, had formerly served in the King's 
Guard at Stockholm. Security o-f person and property was in 
any case complete, and it was remarkable that there did not 
appear to be any proper distinction of caste between the 
Russian-Siberian natives and those who had been exiled for 
crime. There appeared even to be little interest in ascertaining 
the crime — or, as the customary phrase appears to be here, the 
"misfortune" — which caused the exile. On making inquiry on 
this point I commonly got the answer, susceptible of many 
interpretations, " for bad behaviour." We found a peculiar sort 
of criminal colony at Selivaninskoj, a very large village situated 
on the eastern bank of the Yenesej in about the latitude of 
Aavasaksa. My journal of the expedition of 1875 contains the 
following notes of my visit to this colony. 

The orthodox Russian church, as is well known, is tolerant 
towards the professors of foreign religions — Lutherans, Catholics, 
Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Shamans, &c. ; but, on the 
other hand, in complete correspondence with what took place 
in former times within the Protestant world, persecutes sectaries 
within its own pale, with temporal punishments here upon earth 
and with threatenings of eternal in another world. Especially 
in former times a great many sectaries have been sent to Siberia, 
and therefore there are sometimes to be found there peculiar 
colonies enjoying great prosperity, exclusively inhabited by the 
members of a certain sect. Such is the Skopt colony at Selivan- 
inskoj, in connection with which, however, it may be remarked 
that the nature of the religious delusion in this case accounts 
for the severity of the law or the authorities. For, on the 
ground of a text in the Gospel of Matthew interpreted in a 
very peculiar way, all Skoptzi subject themselves to a mutilation, 
in consequence of which the sect can only exist by new prose- 
lytes ; and remarkably enough, these madmen, notwithstanding 
all persecution, or perhaps just on that account, actually still 
gain followers. A large number of the Skoptzi were Fins from 
Ingermanland, with whom I could converse without difficulty. 
They had, through industry and perseverance, succeeded in 
creating for themselves a certain prosperity, w^ere hospitable and 
friendly, and bore their hard fate with resignation. They would 
not themselves kill any warm-blooded animal, for it was "a sin 
to kill what God had created;" which did not hinder them from 
catching and eating fish, and from selling to us, who in any 
case were lost beings, a fine fat ox, on condition that our own 



•294 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. viir. 



people should slaughter it. Their abstinence from some 
kinds of animal food had besides the good result of inducing 
them to devote themselves to the cultivation of the soil. 
Round about their cabins accordingly there were patches of land 
growing potatoes, turnips, and cabbage, which at least that year 
yielded an abundant crop, though lying under the Arctic circle. 
Farther south such plots increase in size, and yield rich crops, 
at least, of a very large potato. There is no proper cultivation of 
grain till we come to Sykobatka, situated in 60° N.L., but in a 
future, when forests and mosses are diminished, a profitable 
agrriculture will be carried on far to the northward. 




OSTYAK TENT. 

After a Fliotograpli.) 



Along with the dwellings of the Russians, the tents of the 
natives, or, as the Russians call them, " the Asiatics," are often 
to be met with. They have the same shape as the Lapp " kota." 
The Samoyed tent is commonly covered with reindeer skins, the 
Ostyak tent with birch bark. In the neighbourhood of the 
tent there are always large numbers of dogs, which during 
winter are employed for general carrying purposes, and in 
summer for towing boats up the river — a means of water trans- 
port which greatly astonished the Norwegian sailors with whom 
I travelled up the river in 1875. To see people travelling in a 
boat drawn by dogs appeared to them more remarkable than 



•29 15 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



the Kremlin of Moscow, or the bells of Kiev. For such a 
journey a sufficient number of dogs are harnessed to a long line, 
one end of which is fastened to the stem of the boat. The dogs 
then go along the level bank, where they make actual foot- 
paths. The boat being of light draught is kept afloat at a 
sufficient distance from land partly by means of the rudder 
which is managed by a person sitting in the stem of the boat, 
and partly by poling from the fore. Small boats are often 
hollowed out of a single tree-stem, and may notwithstanding, 
thanks to the size which some of the pines attain in those 




FISHING BOATS ON THE OB. 

(After a Pliotograpli.) 



regions, be very roomy, and of a very beautiful shape. The 
dogs strongly resemble the Eskimo dogs in Greenland, which 
are also used as draught animals. 

Most of the natives who have come into close contact with the 
Russians are said to profess the Christian religion. That many 
heathen customs, however, still adhere to them is shown, among 
other things, by the following incident : At a simovie where we 
landed for some hours on the 16th Sept. we found, as is common, 
a burying-place in the forest near the dwelling houses. The 
corpses were placed in large coffins above ground, at which 



VIII.] 



SIBERIAN GRAVES. 



297 



almost always a cross was erected. In one of the crosses a 
sacred picture was inserted, which must be considered a further 
proof that a Christian rested in the coffin. Notwithstanding 
this, we found some clothes, which had belonged to the departed, 
hanging on a bush beside the grave, together with a bundle con- 
taining food, principally dried fish. At the graves of the richer 
natives the survivors are even said to place along with food 
some rouble notes, in order that the departed may not be alto- 
gether without ready money on his entrance into the other 
world. 




GRAVES IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST OF SIBERIA. 

(After a drawing by Hj. Thee].) 



Right opposite the village Nasimovskoj is a gold-digger's 
deserted "residence," named Yermakova after the first con- 
queror of Siberia. The building owed its origin to the discovery 
of sand-beds rich in gold, occupying a pretty extensive area 
east of the Yenisej, which for a time had the repute of being 
the richest gold territory in the world. Here in a short 
time enormous fortunes were made ; and accounts of the 
hundreds of poods which one or another yearly reaped from 
the sand-beds,' and the fast reckless life led by those to whom 
fortune dealt out the great prizes in the gold-digging lottery, 
still form a favourite topic of conversation in the region. A 



298 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

rise in the value of labour and a diminished production of the 
noble metal have, however, since led to the abandonment of a 
large number of the diggings that formerly were most produc- 
tive ; others now scarcely pay the expense of the working. 
Many of the gold-diggers who were formerly rich, in the 
attempt to win more have been impoverished, and have dis- 
appeared ; others who have succeeded in retaining their "pood 
of gold " — that is the mint unit which the gold-diggers prefer 
to use in their conversation — have removed to Omsk, Krasno- 
jarsk, Moscow, Petersburg, Paris, &c; The gold-diggers' resi- 
dences stand, therefore, now deserted, and form on the eastern 
bank of the river a row of half-decayed wooden ruins surrounded 
by young trees, after which in no long time only the tradition 
of the former period of prosperity will be found remaining. In 
one respect indeed the gold-diggers have exerted a powerful 
influence on the future of the country. For it was through 
them that the first pioneers were scattered in the wilderness, 
the first seed sown of the cultivation of the region. 

In 1875 there were only two steamers on the Yenisej. These 
were neither passenger nor cargo boats, but rather movable 
commercial stores, propelled by steam. The fore-saloon formed 
a shop provided with a desk, and shelves on which were to be 
seen cloths, iron wares, guns, ammunition, tobacco, tea, matches, 
sugar, brightly coloured copper engravings or lithographs, &c. 
In the after-saloon was enthroned, among brandy casks, pur- 
chased furs, and other precious or delicate wares, he who had 
the command on board, a kind and friendly merchant, who evi- 
dently did not concern himself much with the work of the 
sailors, but rather with trade and the making of bargains, and 
who was seldom called by the crew captain {kapitan), but gene- 
rally master (Jwsain). After the steamer, or floating commercial 
store, there was towed one or two lodjas, which served as maga- 
zines, in which meal and salt and other heavy goods were stored, 
the purchased fish were salted and looked after, fresh bread baked 
for the numerous crew, &c. And as there was not a single jetty 
to be found the whole way between Yenisejsk and the sea, both 
the steamer and the lodjas, in order to be able to load and deliver 
goods at any point, had a large number of boats and lighters 
in tow. No place was set apart for passengers, but travellers 
were received in a friendly and hospitable manner when they 
came on board, where they were then allowed to look out for 
themselves as best they could. The nautical command was 
held by two mates or pilots of a stately and original appearance, 
Avho, clad in long caftans, sat each in his watch on a chair at 
the wheel, generally without steering, mostly smoking a cigarette 
made of coarse paper and, with the most careless appearance in 
the world, exchanging jests with those who were going down the 



Vlil.] 



A YENISEJ STEAMER. 



299 



river. The prohibition of taking away the attention of the 
steersman from his work by conversation was thus not in force 
hereabouts. A man stood constantly in the fore, uninterruptedly 
testing the depth with a long pole. For in order to avoid 
the strong current of the main stream the course was always 
shaped as near the shore as possible, often so near that one 
could almost jump ashore, and my own Nordland boat, which 
was towed by the side of the steamer, was occasionally drawn 
over land. It will be seen from this of how light draught the 
steamer was. 




CHUKCH VILLAGE ON A SIBERIAN RIVER. 

(After a Photograph.) 



Siberia, especially the river territory of the Yenisej and the 
Lena, possesses rich coal seams, which probably extend under 
considerable portions of the Siberian plain, but are yet unworked 
and have attracted little attention. The river steamers accord- 
ingly are fired, not with coal, but with wood, of which, if I 
remember right, 180 fathoms went to the voyage of the steamer 
Alexander up the river. As the vessel could carry only a small 
portion of this quantity of wood at one time, frequent halts were 
necessary, not only for trading with the natives, but also for 
taking fuel on board. In addition to this, the weak engine, 



300 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. viir. 

although the safety valves were overloaded when necessary with lead 
weights, was sometimes unable to make head with all the vessels 
in tow against a current which at some places was very rapid, 
and often, in the attempt to find still water near the river bank, 
the steamer ran aground, notwithstanding the continual "ladno " 
cry of the poling pilot standing in the fore. It made so slow 
progress on this account that the passage from Saostrovskoj to 
Yenisejsk occupied a whole month. 

The two main arms into which the Yenisej is divided south 
of Yenisejsk are too rapid for the present Yenisej steamers 
to ascend them, while, as has been already stated, there is no 
difficulty in descending these rivers from the Selenga and the 
Baikal Lake on the one hand, and from the Minusinsk region 
abounding in grain on the other. The banks here consist, in 
many places, of high rocky ridges covered with fine forests, with 
wonderfully beautiful valleys between them, covered with 
luxuriant vegetation. 

What I have said regarding the mode of travelling up the 
Yenisej refers to the year 1875, in which I went up the river 
accompanied by two Swedish naturalists and three Norwegian 
seamen. It was then by no means unknown, for scientific men 
such as Hansteen (1829), Gastrin (1846), Middendorf (winter 
journeys in 1843 and 1844), and Schmidt (1866), had travelled 
hither and communicated their observations to the scientific 
world in valuable works on the nature and people of the region. 
But the visits of the West-European still formed rare exceptions ; 
no West-European commercial traveller had yet wandered to 
those regions, and into the calculations of the friendly masters 
of the Yenisej river steamers no import of goods from, or 
export of goods to, Europe had ever entered. All at once a new 
period seemed to begin. If the change has not gone on so fast 
as many expected, life here, however, is more than it was at one 
time, and every year the change is more and more noticeable. 
It is on this account that I consider these notes from the journey 
of 1875 worthy of being preserved. 



CHAP. IX. ] THE MAMMOTH. 301 



CHAPTER IX. 

The New Siberian Islands — The Mammoth — Discovery of Mammoth and 
Ehinoceros mummies — Fossil Ehinoceros liorns — Stolbovoj Island — 
Liachoff's Island — First discovery of this island — Passage through the 
sound between this island and the mainland — Animal life there — 
Formation of ice in water above the freezing point — The Bear Islands — 
The quantity and dimensions of the ice begin to increase — Different 
kinds of sea-ice — Eenewed attempt to leave the open channel along the 
coast— Lighthouse Island — Voyage along the coast to Cape Schelagskoj 
— Advance delayed by ice, shoals, and fog — First meeting with the 
Chukches — Landing and visits to Chukch villages — Discovery of 
abandoned encampments — Trade with the natives rendered difficult 
by the want of means of exchange — Stay at Irkaipi — Onkilon graves- — 
Information regarding the Onkilon race — Renewed contact with the 
Chukches — Kolyutschin Bay- — American statements regarding the state 
of the ice north of Behring's Straits— The Vega beset. 

After the parting the Lena shaped her course towards the land ; 
the Vega continued her voyage in a north-easterly direction 
towards the new Siberian Islands. 

These have, from the time of their discovery, been renowned 
among the Eussian ivory collectors for their extraordinary rich- 
ness in tusks and portions of skeletons of the extinct northern 
species of elephant known by the name of mammoth. 

We know by the careful researches of the academicians Pallas, 
YON Baer, Brandt, vox Middendorff, Fe. Schmidt, &c., that 
the mammoth was a peculiar northern species of elephant with 
a covering of hair, which, at least during certain seasons of the 
year, lived under natural conditions closely resembling those 
which now prevail in middle and even in northern Siberia. 
The widel}' extended grassy plains and forests of North Asia 
were the proper homeland of this animal, and there it must at 
one time have wandered about in large herds. 

The same, or a closely allied species of elephant, also occurred 
in North America, in England, France, Switzerland, Germany, 
and North Russia. Indeed, even in Sweden and Finland incon- 
siderable mammoth remains have sometimes been found. ^ But 
while in Europe only some more or less inconsiderable remains 
of bones are commonly to be found, in Siberia we meet not only 
with whole skeletons, but also whole animals frozen in the 
earth, with solidified blood, flesh, hide, and hair. Hence we 
may draw the conclusion that the mammoth died out, speaking 
geologically, not so very long ago. This is besides confirmed by 

^ Further information on this point is given by A. J. Malmgren in 
a paper on the occurrence and extent of mammoth-finds, and on the 
conditions of this animal's existence in former times {Finska Vet.-Soc. 
Forhandl. 1874—5). 



302 THK VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. ix. 

a remarkable antiquarian discovery made in France. Along 
with a number of roughly worked flint flakes, pieces of ivory 
were found, on which, among other things, a mammoth with 
trunk, tusks, and hair was engraved in rough but unmistak- 
able hneaments, and in a style resembling that which distin- 
guishes the Chukch drawings, copies of which will be found 
further on in this work. This drawing, .whose genuineness 
appears to be proved, surpasses in age, perhaps a hundredfold, 
the oldest monuments that Egypt has to show, and forms a re- 
markable proof that the mammoth, the original of the drawing, 
lived in Western Europe contemporaneously with man. The 
mammoth remains are thus derived from a gigantic animal form, 
living in former times in nearly all the lands now civilized, and 
whose carcase is not yet everywhere completely decomposed. 
Hence the great and intense interest which attaches to all that 
concerns this wonderful animal. 

If the interpretation of an obscure passage in Pliny be correct, 
mammoth ivory has, from the most ancient times, formed a 
valued article of commerce, which, however, was often mistaken 
for the ivory of living elephants and of the walrus. But portions 
of the skeleton of the mammoth itself are first described in de- 
tail by WiTSEN, who. during his stay in Russia in 1686 collected 
a large number of statements regarding it, and at least in the 
second edition of his work gives good drawings of the under jaw 
of a mammoth and the cranium of a fossil species of ox, whose 
bones are found along with the remains of the mammoth (Wit- 
sen, 2nd. edit. p. 746). But it appears to have escaped Witsen, 
who himself considered mammoth bones to be the remains of 
ancient elephants, and who well knew the walrus, that in a 
number of the accounts which he quotes, the mammoth and the 
walrus are clearly mixed up together, which is not so wonderful, 
as both are found on the coast of the Polar Sea, and both yielded 
ivory to the stocks of the Siberian merchants. In the same 
way all the statements which the French Jesuit, AvRiL, during 
his stay in Moscow in 1686, collected regarding the amphibious 
animal. Behemoth, occurring on the coast of the Tartarian Sea, 
(Polar Sea) refer not to the mammoth, as some writers, 
HowoRTH^ for example, have supposed, but to the walrus. 
The name mammoth, which is probably of Tartar origin, Witsen 
appears to wish to derive from Behemoth, spoken of in the 
fortieth chapter of the Book of Job. The first mammoth tusk 
was brought to England in 1611, by JosiAS Logan. It was 
purchased in the region of the Petchora, and attracted great 

^ Compare Pli. Avril, Voyage en divers efats d" Europe et d'Jsie entreprls 
■pour decouvrir un nouoeau cheinin a la Chine, etc., Paris, 1692, p. 209. 
rienry H. Howorth, "The Mammoth in Siberia" {Geolog. Mag. 1880, 
p. 408). 



304 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



attention, as appears from Logan's remark in a letter to Hak- 
luyt, that one would not have dreamed to find such wares in the 
region of the Petchora {Purclias, iii. p. 546). As Englishmen 
at that time visited Moscow frequently, and for long periods, 
this remark appears to indicate that fossil ivory first became 
known in the capital of Russia some time after the conquest of 
Siberia. 

I have not, indeed, been successful during the voyage of the 
Vega in making any remarkable discovery that would throw 
light on the mode of life of the mammoth,^ but as we now sail 




RESTORED FOEM OF THE MAMMOTH. 

After Jukes, The Shtdent's Manual of Geology, Edinburgh, 1S62. 



forward between shores probably richer in such remains than any 
other on the surface of the globe, and over a sea, from whose 
bottom our dredge brought up, along with pieces of driftwood, 
half-decayed portions of mammoth tusks, and as the savages 
with whom we came in contact, several times offered us very 
fine mammoth tusks or tools made of mammoth ivory, it may 
not perhaps be out of place here to give a brief account of 
some of the most important mammoth ^wcfe which have been 

^ As will be stated in detail further on, there were found during the 
Veqa expedition very remarkable sub-fossil animal remains, not of the 
mammoth, however, but of various difEerent species of the whale. 



I.K.] , MAMMOTH FOLK-LORE. 305 

preserved for science. We can only refer to the discovery of 
mammoth mummies,'^ for the ^finds of mammoth tusks suflQciently 
well ]3reserved to be used for carving are so frequent as to defy 
enumeration. Middendorff reckons the number of the tusks, 
which yearly come into the market, as at least a hundred pairs, ^ 
Avhence we may infer, that during the years that have elapsed 
since the conquest of Siberia useful tusks from more than 
20,000 animals have been collected. 

The discovery of a maTamoth-omovimy is mentioned for the 
first time in detail in the sketch of a journey which the Russian 
ambassador Evekt Yssbbants Ides, a Dutchman by birth, 
made in 1692 through Siberia to China. A person whom 
Yssbrants Ides had with him during his journey through Siberia, 
and who travelled every year to collect mammoth ivory, assured 
him that he had once found a head of this animal in a piece of 
frozen earth which had tumbled down. The flesh was putrefied, 
the neck-bone was still coloured by blood, and some distance 
from the head a frozen foot was found.^ The foot was taken to 
Turuchansk, whence we may infer that the Jind was made on 
the Yenisej. Another time the same man found a pair of tusks 
weighing together twelve poods or nearly 200 kilogram. Ides' 
informant further stated, that while the heathen Yakuts, Tun- 
guses, and Ostyaks, supposed that the mammoth always lived 
in the earth and went about in it, however hard the ground 
might be frozen, also that the large animal died when it came 
so far up that it saw or smelled the air; the old Russians living 
in Siberia were of opinion that the mammoth was an animal 
of the same kind as the elephant, though with tusks somewhat 
more bent and closer together ; that before the Flood Siberia had 
been warmer than now, and elephants had then lived in numbers 
there ; that they had been drowned in the Flood, and afterwards, 
when the climate became colder, had frozen in the river mud.* 

The folk-lore of the natives regarding the mode of life of the 
mammoth under ground is given in still greater detail in J. B. 
Mullee's Leben und Gevjonheiten der Ostiaken unter dem Polo 

^ The word mummies is used by Von Middendorff to designate carcases 
of ancient animals found in the frozen soil of Siberia. 

2 The calculation is probably rather too low than too high. The steamer 
alone, in which I travelled up the Yenisej in 1875, carried over a hundred 
tusks, of which however the most were blackened, and many were so 
decayed that I cannot comprehend how the great expense of transport from 
the tundra of the Yenisej could be covered by the value of this article. 
According to the statement of the ivory dealers the whole parcel, good and 
bad together, was paid for at a common average price. 

'* Notices of yet other finds of mammoth carcases occur, according to 
Middendorff {Sib. Reise, IV. i. p. 274) in the scarce and to me inaccessible 
first edition of Witsen's Noord en Oost Tartarye (1692, Vol. IL p. 473). 

^ E. Yssbrants Ides, Dreyjcirige lieise nach China, etc., Frankfort, 1707, 
p. 55 The first edition was published in Amsterdam, in Dutch, in 1704, 

X 



306 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

arefico wohnende, &c. Berlin, 1720 (in French in Becueil de 
Voiages au Nord, Amsterdam, 1731-38, Vol. VIII. p. 373). 
According to the accounts given by Miiller, who lived in Siberia 
as a Swedish prisoner of war,^ the tusks formed the animal's 
horns. With these, which were fastened above the eyes and 
were movable, the animal dug a way for itself through the clay 
and mud, but when it came to sandy soil, the sand ran together 
so that the mammoth stuck fast and perished. Miiller further 
states, that many assured him that they themselves had seen 
such animals on the other side of Beresovsk in large grottos in 
the Ural mountains {loc. cit. p. 382), 

Klaproth received a similar account of the mammoth's way 
of life from the Chinese in the Russo-Chinese frontier and trad- 
ing town Kyachta. For mammoth ivory was considered to be 
tusks of the giant rat tien-shu, which is only found in the cold 
regions along the coast of the Polar Sea, avoids the light, and 
lives in dark holes in the interior of the earth. Its flesh is 
said to be cooling and wholesome. Some Chinese literati con- 
sidered that the discovery of these immense earth rats might 
even explain the origin of earthquakes.^ 

It was not until the latter half of the last century that a 
European scientific man had an opportunity of examining a 
^imilax find. In the year 1771 a complete rhinoceros, with flesh 
and hide, was uncovered by a landslip on the river Wilui in 64° 
N.L. Its head and feet are still preserved at St. Petersburg. 
All the other parts" were allowed to be destroyed for want of 
means of transport and preservation.^ What was taken away 
showed that this primeval rhinoceros {Bhinoceros antiqicitatis 
Blumenbach) had been covered with hair and differed from all 
now living species of the same family, though strongly re- 
sembling them in shape and size. Already, long before the 
horns of the fossil rhinoceros had attracted the attention of 
the natives, pieces of these horns were used for the same pur- 
poses for which the Chukches employ strips of whalebone, viz. 
to increase the elasticity of their bows. They were considered at 

1 Strahlenberg in Das Nord- und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia, 
Stockholm, 1730, p. 393, also gives a large number of statements regarding 
the fossil Siberian ivory, and mentions that the distinguished Siberian 
traveller Messerschmidt found a complete skeleton on the river Tom. 

-2 Tilesius, De sheleto mammonteo Sihirico {Mem. de VAcad. de St. Peters- 
hourg, T. V.pour Vanneel812, p. 409). MiddendorfE, S'lh. Beise, IV. i. p. 274. 
'^''on Olfers, Die Uberreste vonveUlicher Riesenthiere in Bezielmng zu Ostasia- 
tisclien Sagen und Chinesischen Scliriften {A hhandl. der Akad. d. TFissenscJi. zu 
Berlin aus dem Jahre 1839, p. 51). 

^ P. S. Pallas, De reliquiis anhnalium exoticorum per Asiam horealem 
repertis complementum {Novi commentarii Acad. Sc Petropolitance, XVII. 
pro anno 1772, p. 576), and Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen 
Reichs, Th. III. St. Petersburg, 1776, p. 97. 



IX.] 



EHINOCEROS HOENS. 



307 



the same time to exert a like beneficial influence on tlie arrow, 
tending to make it hit the mark, as, according to the hunter's 
superstition among ourselves in former days, some cat's claws 
and owl's eyes placed in the bullet mould had on the ball. The 
natives believed that the crania and horns of the rhinoceros 
found along with the remains of the mammoth belonged to 
gigantic birds, regarding which there were told in the tents of 
the Yakut, the Ostyak and the Tunguse many tales resembling 
that of the bird Roc in the Thousand and One Nights. Ermann 




SIBERIAN RHINOCEROS HORN. 

Preserved in the Museum at St. Petersburg. 

and Middendorff even suppose that such finds two thousand 
years ago gave occasion to Herodotus' account of the Arimaspi 
and the gold-guarding dragons {Herodotus, Book IV. chap. 27). 
Certain it is that during the middle ages such " grip-claws " 
were preserved, as of great value, in the treasuries and art col- 
lections of that time, and that they gave rise to many a romantic 
story in the folk-lore both of the West and East. Even in 
this century Hedenstrom, the otherwise sagacious traveller on 
the Siberian Polar Sea, believed that the fossil rhinoceros' horns 

X 2 



338 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

were actual "grip-claws." For he mentions in his oft-quoted 
work, that he had seen such a claw 20 verschoks (0'9 metre) in 
length, and when he visited St. Petersburg in 1830, the scientific 
men there did not succeed in convincing him that his ideas on 
this subject were incorrect.^ 

Anew Jind of a mammoth mummy was made in 1787, when 
the natives informed the Russian travellers Saeytschev and 
Meek, that about 100 versts below the village Alasejsk, situated 
on the river Alasej running into the Polar Sea, a gigantic 
animal had been washed out of the sand beds of the beach 
in an upright posture, undamaged, with hide and hair. The 
jind, however, does not appear to have been thoroughly 
examined.^ 

In 1799 a Tunguse found on the Tamut Peninsula, which juts 
out into the sea immediately south-east of the river-arm by 
which the Lena steamed up the river, another frozen-in mam- 
moth. He waited patiently five years for the ground thawing 
so much as that the precious tusks should be uncovered. The 
softer parts of the animal accordingly were partly torn in pieces 
and destroyed by beasts of prey and dogs, when the place was 
closely examined in 1806 by Adams the Academician. Only 
the head and two of the feet were then almost undamaged. 
The skeleton, part of the hide, a large quantity of long hair and 
woolly hair a foot and a half long were taken away. How fresh 
the carcase was may be seen from the fact that parts of the eye 
could still be clearly distinguished. Similar remains had been 
found two years before, a little further beyond the mouth of the 
Lena, but they were neither examined nor removed.^ 

A new find was made in 1839, when a complete mammoth 
was uncovered by a landslip on the shore of a large lake to the 
west of the mouth of the Yenisej, seventy versts from the Polar 
Sea. It was originally almost entire, so that even the trunk 
appears to have been preserved, to judge by the statement of 
the natives that a black tongue as long as a month-old reindeer 
calf was hanging out of the mouth ; but it had, when it was 
removed in 1842', by the care of the merchant Teofimov, been 
already much destroyed.* 

' Hedenstrora, Otrywld o Sibiri, St. Petersburg, 1830, p. 125. Ermann's 
Archiv, Part 24, p. 140. 

^ Compare K. E. v. Baer's paper in Melanges Biologiques, T. V. St. Peters- 
bourg, 1866, p. 691; Middenclorff, IV. i. p. 277; Gavrila Sarytschev's 
Achtjdhrige Reise in nordostlichen Sibirien, etc., translated by J. H. Busse, 
Th. 1, Leipzig, 1805, p. 106. 

"* Adams' account is inserted at p. 431 in the work of Tilesius already 
quoted. Von Baer gives a detailed account of this and other important 
finds of the same nature in the above-quoted paper in Tome V. of Melanges 
Biologiques, St. Petersbourg, pp. 645-740. " 

^ Middendorff, IV. 1, p. 272. 



IX.] ^ MAMMOTH FINDS. 309 

Next after Trofimov's mammoth come the vatxxnxaoiYi-finds of 
Middendorff' and Schmidt. The former was made in 1843 on the 
bank of the river Tajmur, under 75" N.L. ; the latter in 1866 
or the Gyda tundra, west of the mouth of the Yenisej in 70° 18' 
N.L. The soft parts of these finds were not so well preserved 
as those just mentioned. But the finds at all events had a 
greater importance for science, from the localities having been 
thoroughly examined by competent scientific men. Middendorff 
arrived at the result that the animal found by him had floated 
from more southerly regions to the place where it was found. 
Schmidt on the other hand found that the stratum which con- 
tained the mammoth rested on a bed of marine clay, containing 
shells of high northern species of Crustacea which still live in the 
Polar Sea, and that it was covered with strata of sand alternat- 
ing with beds, from a quarter to half a foot thick, of decayed 
remains of plants, which completely correspond with the turf 
beds which are still formed in the lakes of the tundra. Even 
the very beds of earth and clay in which the bones, pieces of 
hide, and hair of the mammoth mummy were enclosed, con- 
tained pieces of larch, branches and leaves of the dwarf birch 
{Betula nana), and of two northern species of willow {Salix 
glaum, and herliacea).^ It appears from this that the climate of 
Siberia at the time when these mammoth-carcases were im- 
bedded, was very nearly the same as the present, and as the 
stream in whose neighbourhood the find was made is a com- 
paratively inconsiderable tundra river, lying wholly to the north 
of the limit of trees, there is no probability that the carcase 
drifted with the spring ice from the wooded region of Siberia 
towards the north. Schmidt, therefore, supposes that the 
Siberian elephant, if it did not always live in the northern- 
most parts of Asia, occasionally wandered thither, in the same 
way that the reindeer now betakes itself to the coast of the 
Polar Sea. VoN Brandt, Von Schmalhausen, and others, had 
besides already shown that the remains of food which were found 
in the hollows of the teeth of the Wilui rhinoceros consisted of 
portions of leaves and needles of species of trees which still 
grow in Siberia.^ 

Soon after the mammoth found on the Gyda tundra had been 
examined by Schmidt, similar finds were examined by Ger- 
hard V.ON Maydell, at three different places between the rivers 
Kolyma and Indigirka, about a hundred kilometres from the 
Polar Sea. With respect to these finds I can only refer to a 

^ Friedrioh Schmidt, Wissenschaftliche Uesultate der zur Aufsuchung eines 
Mammuthcadavers ausqesandteii Expedition {Mem. de I' Acad, de ISt. Peter a- 
bourg, Ser. VII. T. XVIII. No. 1, 1872). 

^ Brandt, Berichte der preussischen Akad. der Wissenchaften, 1816, p. 224. 
Von Schmalhausen, Bull, de VAcad. de St. Peter-sbourg, T. XXII. p. 291. 



310 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



paper by L. VON Scheenck in the Bulletin of the St. Petersburg 
Academy, T. XVI. 1871, p. 147. 

Under the guidance of natives I collected in 1876 at the 
confluence of the river Mesenkin with the Yenisej, in 71° 28' 
N.L., some fragments of bones and pieces of the hide of a 
mammoth. The hide was 20 to 25 millimetres thick and nearly 
tanned by age, which ought not to appear wonderful, when we 
consider that, though the mammoth lived in one of the latest 
periods of the history of our globe, hundreds of thousands, per- 
haps millions of years have, however, passed since the animal 
died to which these pieces of skin once belonged. It was clear 
that they had been washed by the neighbouring river Mesenkin 
out of the tundra-bank, but I endeavoured, without success, to 
discover the original locality, which was probably already con- 
cealed by river mud. In the neighbourhood was found a very 
line cranium of the musk ox. 

A new and important find was made in 1877 on a tributary 
of the Lena, in the circle Werchojansk, in 69° N.L. For there 
was found there an exceedingly well preserved carcase of a 
rhinoceros {Ehinoceros Merckii, Jaeg.), a different species from 
the Wilui rhinoceros examined by Pallas. However, before the 
carcase was washed away by the river, there had only been 
removed the hair-covered head and one foot.^ From the find 
Schrenck draws the conclusion that this rhinoceros belonged to 
a high-northern species, adapted to a cold climate, and living in, 
or at least occasionally wandering to, the regions where the 
carcase was found. There the mean temperature of the year 
is now very low,^ the winter exceedingly cold ( - 6o°*2 has been 
registered) and the short summer exceedingly warm. Nowhere 
on earth does the temperature show extremes so widely sepa- 
rated as here. Although the trees in winter often split with 
tremendous noise, and the ground is rent with the cold, the 
wood is luxuriant and extends to the neighbourhood of the Polar 
Sea, where besides, the winter is much milder than farther in 
the interior. With respect to the possibility of these large 
animals finding sufficient pasture in the regions in question, it 

^ The find is described by Herr Czersky in the Transactions published by 
the East Siberian division of the St. Petersburg Geographical Society ; and 
subsequently by Dr. Leopold von Schrenck in Me,m. de VAcad. de St. Peters- 
hourg, Ser. VII. T. XXVII.No. 7, 1880. 

^ The mean temperature of the different months is shown in the following 
table : — ^ 



Jan. 

— 48° -9 


Fkb. 

— 47°-2 


March 

— 33° -9 


April 
— 14°-0 

Ogt. 
— 13°-9 


May 
— 0°-40 


June 
+ 13°-4 


Of the Year. 
— 16°-7 


July. 

1-15° 4 


Aug. 

+ ir-9 


Sept. 
+ 2°-3 


Not. 
— 39°-l 


Deo. 

— 45° 7 



IX.] THE NEW SIBERIAN ISLANDS. 311 

ought not to be overlooked that in sheltered places overflowed 
by the spring inundations there are found, still far north of the 
limit of trees, luxuriant bushy thickets, whose newly-expanded 
juicy leaves, burned up by no tropical sun, perhaps form a 
special luxury for grass-eating animals, and that even the bleakest 
stretches of land in the high oiorth are fertile in comparison with 
many regions %ohere at least the camel can find nourishment, for 
instance the eoM coast of the Bed Sea. 

The nearer we come to the coast of the Polar Sea, the more 
common are the remains of the mammoth, especially at places 
where there have been great landslips at the river banks when 
the ice breaks up in spring. Nowhere, however, are they found 
in such numbers as on the New Siberian Islands. Here Heden- 
strom in the space of a verst saw ten tusks sticking out of the 
ground, and from a single sandbank on the west side of Liach- 
off's Island the ivory collectors had, when this traveller visited 
the spot, for eighty years made their best tusk harvest. That 
ne^ finds may be made there year by year depends on the bones 
and tusks being washed by the waves out of the sandbeds on 
the shore, so that after an east wind which has lasted some time 
they may be collected at low water on the banks then laid 
dry. The tusks which are found on the coast of the Polar 
Sea are said to be smaller than those that are found farther 
south, a circumstance which possibly may be explained by 
supposing that, while the mammoth wandered about on the 
plains of Siberia, animals of different ages pastured in com- 
pany, and that the younger of them, as being more agile and 
perhaps more troubled by flies than the older, went farther 
north than these. 

Along with bones of the mammoth there are found on the 
New Siberian Islands, in not inconsiderable numbers, portions of 
the skeletons of other animal forms, little known, but naturally 
of immense importance for ascertaining the vertebrate fauna 
which lived at the same time with the mammoth on the plains 
of Siberia, and the New Siberian group of islands is not less 
remarkable for the "wood-hills," highly enigmatical as to their 
mode of formation, which Hedenstrom found on the south coast 
of the northernmost island. These hills are sixty-four metres 
high, and consist of thick horizontal sandstone beds alternating 
with strata of fissile bituminous tree stems, heaped on each 
other to the top of the hill. In the lower part of the hill the 
tree stems lie horizontally, but in the upper strata they stand 
upright, though perhaps not rootfast.^ The flora and fauna of 
the island group besides are still completely unknown, and the 
fossils, among them ammonites with exquisite pearly lustre, 

^ Hedenstrom, loc. cit. p. 128. To find stranded driftwood in an upriglit 
position is nothing uncommon. 



312 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



which Hedenstrom brought home from the rock strata on 
Kotehioj Island^ hold out inducement to further researches, 
which ought to yield the geologist valuable information as to the 
former climate and the former distribution of land and sea on 
the surface of the globe. The knowledge of the hydrography 
of this region is besides an indispensable condition for judging 
of the state of the ice in the sea which washes the north coast 
of Asia. Here lies the single available starting-point for the 
exploration of the yet altogether unknown sea farther to the north, 
and from hills on the two northernmost islands Hedenstrom 
thouofht that across the sea to the north-west and north-east he 




STOLBOVOJ ISLAND. 

After a drawing by O. Nordquist. 



saw obscure outlines of new land, on which no man had yet set 
his foot. All these circumstances confer on this group of islands 
an uncommon interest in a scientific and geographical respect, 
and therefore no long time can elapse until a scientific ex- 
pedition be sent to these regions. Just for this reason I now 
desired, as a preparation for a future voyage, to wander about 
here for a couple of days, partly on foot, partly by boat. 

The air was calm, but for the most part clouded, the 
temperature as high as 4- 4°, the sea clear of ice, the salinity of 
the water 1 '8 per cent, with a temperature of -|- 2° to 4- 3°. At 
first we made rapid progress, but after having in the after- 
noon of the 28th August sighted . the westernmost islands, 



IX.] , LJACHOFFS ISLAND. 313 

Semenoffskoj and Stolbovoj, the sea became so shallow that for 
long stretches we were compelled to sail in six to seven metres 
water. Some very rotten ice, or rather ice sludge, was also met 
with, which compelled us to make tedious cUtours, and prevented 
the Vega from going at full speed. 

The animal life was among the scantiest I had seen during my 
many travels in the Polar Seas. A few seals were visible. Of 
birds we saw some terns and gulls, and even far out at sea 
a pretty large number of phalaropes — the most common kind of 
bird on the coast of the Asiatic Polar Sea, at least in autumn. 
Stolbovoj Island was, especially on the north side, high with 
precipitous shore-cliffs which afforded splendid breeding-places 
for looms, black guillemots and gulls. At all such cliffs there 
breed on Spitzbergen millions of sea fowl, which are met with 
out on the surrounding sea in great flocks searching for their 
food. Here not a single loom was seen, and even the number of 
the gulls was small, which indeed in some degree was to be 
accounted for by the lat.e season of the year, but also by the 
circumstance that no colony of birds had settled on the rocky 
shores of the island. 

The sea bottom consisted at certain places of hard packed 
sand, or rather, as I shall endeavour to show farther on, of 
frozen sand, from which the trawl net brought up no animals. 
At other places there was found a clay, exceedingly rich in 
Idoihea entomon and Sabinei and an extraordinary mass of 
bryozoa, resembling collections of the eggs of mollusca. 

It was not until the 30th of August that we were off the west 
side of Ljachoff''s Island, on which I intended to land. The 
north coast, and, as it appeared the day after, the east coast was 
clear of ice, but the winds recently prevailing had heaped a 
mass of rotten ice on the west coast. The sea besides was so 
shallow here, that already at a distance 15' from land we had 
a depth of only eight metres. The ice heaped against the west 
coast of the island did not indeed form any very serious obstacle 
to the advance of the Vega, but in case we. had attempted to 
land there it might have been inconvenient enough, when the 
considerable distance between the vessel and the land was to 
be traversed in a boat or the steam launch, and it might even, 
if a sudden frost had occurred, have become a fetter, which would 
have confined us to that spot for the winter. Even a storm 
arising hastily might in this shallow water have been actually 
dangerous to the vessel anchored in an open road. The prospect 
of wandering about for some days on the island did not appear 
to me to outweigh the danger of the possible failure of the main 
(jbject of the expedition. I therefore gave up for the time 
my intention of landing. The course was shaped southwards 
towards the sound, of so bad repute in the history of the 



314 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA, 



[chap. 



Siberian Polar Sea, which separates Ljachoff's Island from the 
mainland. 

So far as we could judge at a distance from the appearance 
of the rocks, Stolbovoj consisted of stratified rocks, Ljachoff's 
Island, on the contrary, like the mainland opposite, of high 
hills, much shattered, probably formed of Plutonic stone-masses. 




IDOTHEA ENTOMON, LIN. 

From the sea north of the mouth of the Lena. 
(Natural size.) 

Between these there are extensive plains, which, according to 
a statement by the land surveyor Chvoinoff, who by order of 
the Czar visited the island in 1775, are formed of ice and sand, 
in which lie imbedded enormous masses of the bones and tusks 
of the mammoth, mixed with the horns and skulls of some 
kind of ox and with rhinoceros' horns. Bones of the whale and 



IX.] 



LJACHOPF'S ISLAND. 



315 



walrus are not mentioned as occurring there, but " long small 
screw-formed bones," by which are probably meant the tusks 
of the narwhal.^ 

All was now clear of snow, with the exception of a few of 
the deeper clefts between the mountains. No traces of glaciers 
Avere visible, not even such small collections of ice as are to be 







¥ 



I 



IDOTHEA SABINEI, KKOYEE. 

From the sea off the mouth of the Lena 
(Natural size.) 



found everywhere on Spitzbergen where the land rises a few 
hundred feet above the surface of the sea. Nor, to judge by 

1 Martin Sauer, An account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition 
to the Northern parts of Russia by Commodore Joseph Billings^ London, 
1802, p. 105. The walrus does not occur in the sea between the mouth 
of the Chatanga and Wrangel Land, and large whales are never seen at 
the New Siberian Islands, but during Hedenstiom's stay in these regions 
three narwhals were enclosed in the ice near the shore at tlie mouth of the 
Yana {Otrywki o Sibiri, p. 131). 



Slfi THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

the appearance of the hills, have there been any glaciers in 
former times, and this is certainly the case on the mainland. 
The northernmost part of Asia in that case has never been 
covered by such an ice-sheet as is assumed by the supporters 
of a general ice age embracing the whole globe. 

The large island right opposite to Svjatoinos was discovered 
in 1770 by Ljachoff, whose name the island now bears. In 
1788 Billings' private secretary, Martin Sauer, met with 
Ljachoff at Yakutsk, but he was then old and infirm, on which 
account, when Sauer requested information regarding the 
islands in the Polar Sea, he referred him to one of his com- 
panions, Zaitai Protodiakonoff. He informed him that 
the discovery was occasioned by an enormous herd of reindeer 
which Ljachoff, in the month of April 1770, saw going from 
Svjatoinos towards the south, and whose track came over the 
ice from the north. On the correct supposition that the reindeer 
came from some land lying to the north, Ljachoff followed the 
track in a dog-sledge, and thus discovered the two most southerly 
of the New Siberian Islands, a discovery which was rewarded 
by the Czarina Catherine II. with the exclusive right to hunt 
and collect ivory on them.^ 

Ljachoff states the breadth of the sound between the main- 
land and the nearest large island at 70 versts or 40'. On 
Wrangel's map again the breadth is not quite 30'. On the 
mainland side it is bounded by a rocky headland projecting 
far into the sea, which often formed the turning point in 
attempts to penetrate eastwards from the mouth of the river 
Lena, and perhaps just on that account, like many other head- 
lands dangerous to the navigator on the north coast of Russia, 
was called Svjatoinos (the holy cape), a name which for the 
oldest Russian Polar Sea navigators appears to have had the 
same signification as "the cape that can be passed with difficulty." 
No one however now thinks with any apprehension of the 
two " holy capes," which in former times limited the voyages of 
the Russians and Fins living on the White Sea to the east and 
west, and this, I am quite convinced, will some time be the case 
with this and all other holy capes in the Siberian Polar Sea, 

The sea water in the sound was much mixed with river water 
and had a comparatively high temperature, even at a depth of 
nine to eleven metres. The animal life at the sea bottom was 
poor in species but rich in individuals, consisting principally of 

1 Martin Sauer, An account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition 
to the Northern parts of Russia by Commodore Joseph Billings, London, 
1802, p. 103. A. Ermanu, Reise urn die Erde, Berlin, 1833—48, D. 1, B. 2, 
p. 268. Ermann's statement, that tlie knowledge of the existence of these 
islands was concealed from the government up to the year 1806, is clearly 
incorrect. 



IX.] LJACHOFFS ISLAND. 317 

Idothea entomon, of which Dr. Stuxberg counted 800 specimens 
from a single sweej) of the dredge. There were obtained at the 
same time, besides a few specimens of Idothea Sadinei, sponges 
and bryozoa in great abundance, and small mussels, Crustacea, 
vermes, &c. Various fishes were also caught, and some small 
algae collected. The trawl-net besides brought up from the 
bottom some frao'ments of mammoth tusks, and a larofe number 
of pieces of wood, for the most part sticks or branches, which 
appear to have stood upright in the clay, to judge from the fact 
that one of their ends was often covered with living bryozoa. 
These sticks often caused great inconvenience to the dredgers, 
by tearing the net that was being dragged along the bottom. 





ljachoff's island. 
Afler a drawing by O. Nordquist. 

On the night preceding the 31st of August, as we steamed 
past Svjatoinos, a peculiar phenomenon was observed. The sky 
was clear in the zenith and in the east ; in the west, on the other 
hand, there was a bluish-grey bank of cloud. The temperature 
of the water near the surface varied between + 1° and + 1°'6, 
that of the air on the vessel between + 1°'5 and -|- 1°'8. Although 
thus both the air and the water had a temperature somewhat 
above the freezing-point, ice was seen to form on the calm, 
mirror-bright surface of the sea. This ice consisted partly of 
needles, partly of a thin sheet. I have previously on several 
occasions observed in the Arctic seas a similar phenomenon, 
that is to say, have observed the formation of ice when the 



I 



318 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

temperature of the air was above the freezing-point. On this 
occasion, when the temperature of the uppermost stratum ot 
water was also above the freezing-point, the formation of ice 
was clearly a sort of hoar-frost phenomenon, caused by radiation 
of heat, perhaps both upwards towards the atmosphere and 
downwards towards the bottom layer of water, cooled below 
the freezing-point. 

The whole day we continued our voyage eastwards with 
glorious weather over a smooth ice-free sea, and in the same 
way on the 1st September, with a gentle southerly wind, the 
temperature of the air at noon in the shade being -|- 5°'6. On 
the night before the 2nd September the wind became northerly 
and the temperature of the air sank to — 1°, Little land was 
seen, though we were still not very far from the coast. Near to 
it there was a broad ice-free, or nearly ice -free, channel, but 
farther out to sea ice commenced. The following night snow 
fell, so that the whole of the deck and the Bear Islands, which 
we reached on the 3rd September, were sprinkled with it. 

Hitherto, during the whole time we sailed along the coast, we 
had scarcely met with any fields of drift-ice but such as were 
formed of rotten, even, thin and scattered pieces of ice, in many 
places almost converted into ice-sludge, without an "ice-foot" 
and often dirty on the surface. No iceberg had been seen, nor 
any large glacier ice-blocks, such as on the coasts of Spitzbergen 
replace the Greenland icebergs. But east of Svjatoinos the ice 
began to increase in size and assume the same appearance as 
the ice north of Spitzbergen. It was here, besides, less dirty, and 
rested on a hard ice-foot projecting deep under water and 
treacherous for the navigator. 

The ice of the Polar Sea may be divided into the following 
varieties : — 

1. Icebergs. The true icebergs have a height above the 
surface of the water rising to 100 metres. They often ground 
in a depth of 200 to 300 metres, and have thus sometimes 
a cross section of up to 400, perhaps 500 metres. Their area 
may amount to several square kilometres. Such enormous 
blocks of ice are projected into the North Polar Sea only from 
the glaciers of Greenland, and according to Payer's statement, 
from those of Franz- Josef Land also ; but not, as some authors 
(Geikie, Beown, and others) appear to assume and have shown 
by incorrect ideal drawings, from glaciers which project into the 
sea and there terminate with a perpendicular evenly-cut border, 
but from very uneven glaciers which always enter the sea in the 
bottoms of deep fjords, and are split up into icebergs long before 
they reach it. It is desirable that those who write on the 
origin of icebergs, should take into consideration the fact that 
icebergs are only formed at places where a violent motion takes 



IX.] GLACIER ICE-BLOCKS. 319 

jDlace in the mass of the ice, which again within a comparatively 
short time results in the excavation of the deep ice-fjord. The 
largest iceberg, which, so far as I know, has been measured in 
that part of the Polar Sea which lies between Spitzbergen and 
Wrangel Land, is one which Barents saw at Cape Nassau 
on the ^^th August 1596. It was sixteen fathoms high, and had 
grounded in a depth of thirty-six fathoms. In the South Polar 
Sea icebergs occur in great numbers and of enormous size. If 
we may assume that they have an origin similar to those 
of Greenland, it is probable that round the South Pole there 
is an extensive continent indented by deep fjords. 

2. Olacier Ice-Uocks. These, which indeed have often been 
called icebergs, are distinguished from true icebergs not only 
by their size, but also by the way in which they are formed. 
They have seldom a cross section of more than thirty or forty 
metres, and it is only exceptionally that they are more 
than ten metres high above the surface of the water. They 
originate from the " calving " of glaciers which project into 
the sea with a straight and evenly high precipitous border. 
Such glaciers occur in large numbers on the coasts of Spitzbergen, 
and they are there of the same height as similar evenly-cut 
glaciers on Greenland. According to the statement of the 
Dane Petersen, who took part both in Kane's expedition in 
1853-55 and in Torell's in 1861, the glaciers, for instance, at 
Hinloopen Strait in Spitzbergen, are fully equal, with respect 
to their size and the height of their borders above the sea-level, 
to the enormous and much bewritten Humboldt glacier in Green- 
land. In Spitzbergen too we find at two places miniatures of 
the Greenland ice-currents, for instance the glacier which filled 
the North Haven in Bell Sound, another glacier which filled 
an old Dutch whaling haven between Recherche Bay and Van 
Keulen Bay, a glacier on the north side of Wahlenberg Bay 
and perhaps at that part of the inland ice marked in my 
map of the expedition of 1872 as a bay on the east coast 
of North-east Land. It is even possible that small icebergs 
may be projected from the last-mentioned place, and thence drift 
out into the sea on the east coast of Spitzbergen. 

Glacier-ice shows a great disposition to fall asunder into 
smaller pieces without any perceptible cause. It is full of cavi ties, 
containing compressed air, which, when the ice melts, bursts 
its attenuated envelope with a crackling sound like that of the 
electric spark. It thus behaves in this respect in the same 
way as some mineral salts which dissolve in water with slight 
explosions. Barents relates that on the j?th August 1596 he 
anchored his vessel to a block of ice which was aground on the 
coast of Novaya Zemlya. Suddenly, and without any perceptible 
cause, the rock of ice burst asunder into hundreds of smaller 



320 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cuAr.- 

pieces with a tremendous noise, and to the great terror of all the 
men on board. Similar occurrences on a smaller scale I 
have myself witnessed. The cause to which they are due 
appears to me to be the following. The ice-block while part 
of the glacier is exposed to very severe pressure, which- ceases 
Avhen it falls into the sea. The pressure now in most cases 
equalises itself without any bursting asunder, but it sometimes 
happens that the inner strongly compressed portions of the ice- 
block cannot, although the pressure has ceased, expand freely 
in consequence of the continuous ice-envelope by which they 
are still surrounded. A powerful internal tension must thereby 
arise in the whole mass, which f/nally leads to its bursting into 
a thousand pieces. We have here a Prince Rupert's drop, but 
one whose diameter may rise to fifty metres, and which consists 
not of glass but of ice. 

• Glacier ice-blocks occur abundantly on the coasts of Spitz- 
bergen and north Novaya Zemlya, but appear to be wanting or 
exceediagly rare along the whole north coast of Asia, between 
Yugor Schar and Wrangel Land. East of this they again 
occur, but not in any great numbers. This appears to show 
that the Western Siberian Polar Sea is not surrounded by any 
glacial lands. The glacier ice is commonly of a blue colour. 
When melted it yields a pure water, free of salt. Sometimes 
however it gives traces of salt, which are derived from the spray 
which the storms have carried high up on the surface of 
the glacier, 

3. Pieces of ice from the ice-foot formed along the sea beach 
or the banks of rivers. They rise sometimes five or six metres 
above the surface of the water. They consist commonly of dirty 
ice, mixed with earth. 

4. Biver Ice, level, comparatively small ice fields, which, 
when they reach the sea, are already so rotten that they soon 
melt away and disappear, 

5. The walrus-hunters' Bay Ice ; by which we understand level 
ice-fields formed in fjords and bays along the coast, and which 
have there been exposed to a comparatively early summer heat. 
The bay ice therefore melts away completely during summer, 
and it is not commonly much pressed together. When all the 
snow upon it has disappeared, there is to be seen above the 
surface of the water a little ice of the same colour as the water, 
while under water very considerable portions of immelted hard 
ice are still remaining. This has given rise to the walrus- 
hunters' statement, which has been warmly maintained, that the 
ice in autumn finalh' disappears by sinking. Nearly all the ice 
we met with in the course of our voyage belonged to this 
variety, 

6. Sea Ice, or heavy ice, which often exhibits traces of having 



'^'•] BAY AND SEA ICE. 321 

been much pressed together, but has not been exposed to any 
early summer heat. The walrus-hunters call it sea ice, wishing, 
I imagine, to indicate thereby that it is formed in the sea 
farther up towards the north. That it has drifted down from 
the north is indeed correct, but that it has been formed far 
from land over a considerable depth in the open sea is perhaps 
uncertain, as the ice that is formed there cannot, we think, 
be very thick. It has rather perhaps drifted down from the 
neighbourhood of some yet unknown Polar continent. Of 
this ice are formed most of the ice-fields in the seas east 
of Greenland, north of Spitzbergen, between Spitzbergen and 
the north island of Novaya Zemlya, and north of Behring's 
Straits. In the northern seas it does not melt completely 
during the summer, and remains of sea ice therefore often 
enter as component parts into the bay ice formed durino- the 
following winter. The latter then becomes rough and uneven 
from remnants of old sea ice being frozen into the newly formed 
ice. Sea ice is often pressed together so as to form c^reat 
torosses or ice-casts, formed of pieces of ice which at firsf are 
angular and piled loose on each other, but gradually become 
rounded, and freeze together into enormous blocks of ice, which, 
together with the glacier ice-blocks, form the principal mass 
of the ground ice found on the coasts of the Polar lands. The 
water which is obtained by melting sea-ice is not completely 
free from salt, but the older it is the less salt does it contain. 

East of the Bear Islands heavy sea-ice in pretty compact 
masses had drifted down towards the coast, but still left an 
open ice-free channel along the land. Here the higher animal 
world was exceedingly poor, which, as far as the avi-fauna was 
concerned, must be m some degree ascribed to the late season 
ot the year. For Wrangel mentions a cliff at the Bear Islands 
which was covered with numberless birds' nests. He saw 
besides, on the largest of these islands, traces of the bear wolf 
qSx T'^'^V^'''^ reindeer (Wrangel's Beise, i. pp. 3oi and 
X. 1 ■ -u surrounding sea was completely deserted. No 

Polar bear saluted us from the ice-floes, no walruses and only 
very few seals were visible. During many watches not a single 
natatory bird was seen. Only the phalarope was still met with 
m large numbers, even pretty far out at sea. Perhaps it was 
then migrating from the north. The lower animal world was 
more abundant. -From the surface of the sea the drag-net 
brought up various small surface Crustacea, inconsiderable in 
themselves, but important as food for larger animals ; and from 
the sea-bottom were obtained a large number of the same animal 
lorms as from the sound at Svjatoinos, and in addition some 
beautiful asterids and a multitude of very large beaker sponges. 

. Y 



322 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



On tlie 3rd September, after we had sailed past the Bear 
Islands, the course was shaped right foi; Cape Chelagskoj. This 
course, as will be seen by a glance at the map, carried us far 
from the coast, and thus out of the channel next the land, in 
which we had hitherto sailed. The ice was heavy and close, 
although at first so distributed that it was navigable. But with 
a north wind, which began to blow on the night before the 
1st September, the temperature fell below the freezing-point, 
and the water between the pieces of drift-ice was covered with a 
very thick crust of ice, and the drift-ice came closer and closer 
together. It thus became impossible to continue the course 
which we had taken. We therefore turned towards the land, 
and at 6 o'clock p.m., after various bends in the ice and a few 
concussions against the pieces of ice that barred our way, again 





BEAKER SPONGES. 

From the sea off the mouth of the Kolyma. 



reached the ice-free' channel, eight to twelve kilometres broad, 
next the land. While we lay a little way in among the drift- 
ice fields we could see no sign of open water, but it appeared as 
if the compact ice extended all the way to land, a circumstance 
which shows how careful the navigator ought to be in express- 
ing an opinion as to the nature of the pack beyond the imme- 
diate neighbourhood of the vessel. The temperature of the air, 
which in the ice-field had sunk to — 3°, now rose at once to 
-\- 4°'l, while that of the water rose from — 1°"2 to + 3°"5, 
and its salinity fell from 2*4 to 1'3 jjer cent. All showed that 
we had now come into the current of the Kolyma, which from 
causes which have been already stated, runs from the mouth of 
the river along the land in an easterly direction. 



IX.] 



LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND. 



32J 



The Bear Islands lying off the mouth of the Kolyma are, 
for the most part, formed of a plutonic rock, whose upper part 
has weathered away, leaving gigantic isolated pillars. Four 
such pillars have given to the easternmost of the islands the 
name Lighthouse Island (Fyrpelaron). Similar ruin-like form- 
ations are found not only on Cape Baranov, which lies rio-ht 
opposite, but also at a great number of other places in that 
portion of the north coast of Siberia which lies farther to the 
east. Generally these cliff-ruins are collected together over 
considerable areas in groups or regular rows. They have thus 
when seen. from the sea, so bewildering a resemblance to the 
rums of a gigantic city which had once been surrounded by 
strong walls and been full of temples and splendid buildin^rs 




LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND. 

After a drawing by O. Nordquist. 

that one is almost tempted to see in them memorials of the 
exploits of a Tamerlane or a Chingis Khan up here in the 
high north. 

The north side of the hill-tops was powdered with new-fallen 
snow, but the rest of the land was clear of snow. The distance 
between the south point of Ljachoff's Island and the Bear 
islands is 360^ This distance we had traversed in three days 
having thus made 120' in the twenty-four hours, or 5' per hour' 
it we consider the time lost in dredging, sounding, and determin- 
mg the temperature and salinity of the water, and the caution 
winch the navigator must observe during a voyage in quite 
unknown waters, this speed shows that during this part of our 

Y 2 



324 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

voyage we were hindered by ice only to a slight extent. Cape 
Baranov was passed on the night before the 5th September, the 
mouth of Chaun Bay on the night before the 6th September, 
and Cape Chelagskoj was reached on the 6th at 4 o'clock p.m. 
The distance in a right line between this headland and the Bear 
Islands is 180'. In consequence of the many detours in the ice 
we had required 2|- days to traverse this distance, which cor- 
responds to 72' per day, or 3'' per hour, a speed which in a 
voyage in unknown, and for the most part ice-bestrewed waters, 
must yet be considered very satisfactory. But after this our 
progress began to be much slower. At midnight the sun was 
already 12° to 13° below the horizon, and the nights were now 
so dark that at that time of day we were compelled to lie still 
anchored to some large ground-ice. A further loss of time was 
caused by the dense fog which often prevailed by day, and which 
in the unknown shallow water next the land compelled Captain 
Palander to advance with extreme caution. The navigation 
along the north coast of Asia began to get somewhat monotonous. 
Even the most zealous Polar traveller may tire at last of mere 
ice^ shallow water and fog; and mere fog, shallow water and ice. 
Now, however, a pleasant change began, by our coming at 
last in contact with natives. In the whole stretch from Yugor 
Schar to Cape Chelagskoj we had seen neither men nor human 
habitations, if I except the old uninhabited hut between Cape 
Chelyuskin and the Chatanga. But on the 6th. September, 
when we were a little way off Cape Chelagskoj, two boats were 
sighted. Every man, with the exception of the cook, who 
could be induced by no catastrophe to leave his pots and pans, 
and who had circumnavigated Asia and Europe perhaps without 
having been once on land, rushed on deck. The boats,- were of 
skin, built in the same way as the " umiaks " or women's boats 
of the Eskimo. They were fully laden with laughing and 
chattering natives, men, women, and children, who indicated 
by cries and gesticulations that they wished to come on board. 
The engine was stopped, the boats lay to, and a large number 
of skin-clad, bare-headed beings climbed up over the gunwale in 
a way that clearly indicated that they had seen vessels before. 
A lively talk began, but we soon became aware that none of the 
crew of the boats or the vessel knew any language common to 
both. It was an unfortunate circumstance, but signs were 
employed as far as possible. This did not prevent the chatter 
from going on, and great gladness soon came to prevail, especially 
when some presents began to be distributed, mainly consisting 
of tobacco and Dutch clay pipes. It was remarkable that none 
of them could speak a single word of Russian, while a boy 
could count tolerably well up to ten in English, which shows that 
the natives here come into closer contact with American whalers 



i.^.] - THE CHUKCHES DEPART. 325 

than with Russian traders. They acknowledged the name 
chukch or cliautclmi. 

Many of them were tall, well-grown men. They were clothed 
in close fitting skin trousers and " pesks " of reindeer skin. The 
head was bare, the hair always clipped short, with the exception 
of a small fringe in front, where the hair had a length of four 
centimetres and was combed down over the brow. Some had a 
cap of the sort used by the Russians at Chabarova, stuck into 
the belt behind, but they appeared to consider the weather still 
too warm for the use of this head-covering. The hair of most 
of them was bluish-black and exceedingly thick. The women 
were tattooed with black or bluish-black lines on the brow and 
nose, a number of similar lines on the chin, and finally some 
embellishments on the cheeks. The t}^e of face did not strike 




CHUKCH BOATS. 



one as so unpleasant as that of the Samoyeds or Eskimo. Some 
of the young girls were even not absolutely ugly. In comparison 
with the Samoyeds they were even rather cleanly, and had a 
beautiful, almost reddish-white complexion. Two of the men 
were quite fair. Probably they were descendants of Russians, 
who for some reason or other, as prisoners of war or fugitives, 
had come to live among the Chukches and had been nationalised 
by them. 

In a little we continued our voyage, after the Chukches had 
returned to their boats, evidently well pleased with the gifts 
they had received and the leaf tobacco I had dealt out in 
bundles, — along with the clay pipes, of which every one got as 
many as he could carry between his fingers, — with the finery and 



326 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAP. 



old clothes whicli my comrades and the crew strewed around 
them with generous hand. For we were all convinced that after 
some days we should come to waters where winter clothes would 
be altogether unnecessary, where our want of any article could 
easily be supplied at the nearest port, and where the means of 
exchange would not consist of goods, but of stamped pieces of 
metal and slips of paper. 

On the 7th September, we steamed the whole day along the 




A CHURCH IN SEAL-GUT GREAT COAT. 

After a photograph by L. Palander. 



coast in pretty open ice. At night we lay to at a floe. The 
hempen tangles and the trawl-net were put out and yielded a 
very rich harvest. But in the morning we found ourselves 
again so surrounded by ice and fog, that, after several unsuccess- 
ful attempts to make an immediate advance, we were compelled 
to lie-to at a large piece of drift-ice near the shore. When the 
fog had lightened so much that the vessel could be seen from 
the land, we were again visited by a large number of natives, 
whom as before we entertained as best we could. They invited 



IX.] LAGOONS ON THE COAST. 327 

us by evident signs to land and visit their tents. As it was in 
any case impossible immediately to continue our voyage, I 
accepted the invitation, ordered a boat to be put out, and landed 
along with most of my comrades. 

The beach here is formed of a low bank of sand which runs 
between the sea and a small shallow lagoon or fresh-water lake, 
whose surface is nearly on a level with that of the sea. Farther 
into the interior the land rises gradually to bare hills, clear of 
snow or only covered with a thin coating of powdered snow 
from the fall of the last few days. Lagoon formations, with 
either fresh or salt water, of the same kind as those which we 
saw here for the first time, are distinctive of the north-eastern 
coast of Siberia, It is these formations which gave rise to the 
statement that on the north coast of Siberia it is difficult to 
settle the boundaries between sea and land. In winter this may 
be difficult enough, for the low bank which separates the lagoon 
from the sea is not easily distinguished when it has become 
covered with snow, and it may therefore readily happen in winter 
journeys along the coast that one is far into the land while he 
still believes himself to be out on the sea-ice. But when the 
snow has melted, the boundary is sharp enough, and the sea by 
no means shallow for such a distance as old accounts would 
indicate. A continual ice-mud-work also goes on here during 
the whole summer. Quite close to the beach accordingly the 
depth of water is two metres, and a kilometre farther out ten to 
eleven metres. Off the high rocky promontories the water is 
commonly navigable even for vessels of considerable draught 
close to the foot of the cliffs. 

The villages of the Chukches commonly stand on the bank of 
sand which separates the lagoon from the sea. The dwellings 
consist of roomy skin tents, which enclose a sleeping chamber of 
the form of a parallelepiped surrounded by warm well-prepared 
reindeer skins, and lighted and warmed by one or more train-oil 
lamps. It is here that the family sleep during summer, and 
here most of them live day and night during winter. In sum- 
mer, less frequently in winter, a fire is lighted besides in the 
outer tent with wood, for which purpose a hole is opened in the 
top of the raised tent-roof. But to be compelled to use wood 
for heating the inner tent the Chukches consider the extremity 
of scarcity of fuel. 

We were received everywhere in a very friendly way, and were 
offered whatever the house afforded. At the time the supply 
of food was abundant. In one tent reindeer beef was being 
boiled in a large cast-iron pot. At another two recently shot 
or slaughtered reindeer were being cut in pieces. At a third an 
old woman was employed in taking out of the paunch of the 
reindeer the green spinage-like contents and cramming them 



328 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

into a sealskin bag, evidently to be ]3reserved for green food 
during winter. The hand was used in this case as a scoop, and 
the naked arms were coloured high uj) with the certainly un- 
appetising spinage, which however, according to the statements 
of Danish colonists in Greenland, has no unpleasant taste. Other 
skin sacks filled with train-oil stood in rows along the walls of 
the tent. 

The Chukches offered train-oil for sale, and appeared to be 
surprised that we would not purchase any. In all the tents 
were found seals cut in pieces, a proof that the catch of seals had 
recently been abundant. At one tent lay two fresh walrus heads 
with large beautiful tusks. I tried without success to purchase 
these heads, but next day the tusks were offered to us. The 




CHUKCH TENT.- 

(After a pliotograpli by L. Palander.)" 



Chukches appear to have a prejudice against disposing of 
the heads of slain animals. According to older travellers they 
.even pay the walrus-head a sort of worship. 

Children were met with in great numbers, healthy and 
thriving. In the inner tent the older children went nearly 
naked, and I saw them go out from it without shoes or other 
covering and run between the tents on the hoarfrost-covered 
ground. The younger were carried on the shoulders both of 
men and women, and were then so wrapped up that they 
resembled balls of skin. The children were treated with marked 
friendliness, and the older ones were never heard to utter an 
angry word. I purchased here a large number of household 
articles and dresses, which I shall describe further on. 



IX.] . COMPELLED TO LIE-TO. 329 

On the morning of the 9th September we endeavoured to 
steam on, but were soon compelled by the dense fog to lie-to 
again at a ground-ice, which, when the fog lightened, was found 
to have stranded quite close to land. The depth here was 
eleven metres. At this place we lay till the morning of the 
10th. The beach was formed of a sandbank,^ which immediately 
above high-water mark was covered with a close grassy turf, a 
proof that the climate here, notwithstanding the neighbourhood 
of the jDole of cold, is much more favourable to the develop- 
ment of vegetation than even the most favoured parts of the 
west coast of SjDitzbergen. Farther inland was seen a very high, 
but snow-free, range of hills, and far beyond them some high 
snow-covered mountain summits. No glaciers were found here, 
though I consider it probable that small ones may be found in 
the valleys between the high fells in the interior. Nor were 
any erratic blocks found either in the interior of the coast 
country or along the strand bank. Thus it is probable that no 
such ice-covered land as Greenland for the present bounds the 
Siberian Polar Sea towards the north. At two places at the 
level of the sea in the neighbourhood of our anchorage the solid 
rock was bare. There it formed perpendicular shore cliffs, nine 
to twelve metres high, consistino^ of mao-nesian slate, limestone 
more or less mixed with quartz, and silicious slate. The strata 
were nearly perpendicular, ran from north to south, and did not 
contain any fossils. From a geological point of view therefore 
these rocks were of little interest. But they were abundantly 
covered with lichens, and yielded to Dr. Almquist im]3ortant 
contributions to a knowledge of the previously quite unknown 
lichen flora of this region. 

The harvest of the higher land plants on the other hand was, 
in consequence of the far advanced season of the year, incon- 
siderable, if also of great scientific interest, as coming from a 
region never before visited by any botanist. In the sea Dr. 
Kj oilman dredged without success for algee. Of the higher 
animals we saw only a walrus and some few seals, but no land 
mammalia. Lemmings must however occasionally occur in 
incredible numbers, to judge by the holes and passag-es, ex- 
cavated by these animals, by which the ground is crossed in all 
directions. Of birds the j)halarope w^as still the most common 

^ Of course the earth here at aa inconsiderable depth under the surface 
is constantly frozen, but I have nowhere seen such alternating layers of 
earth and ice, crossed by veins of ice, as Hedenstrdm in his oft-quoted 
work {Otrytoki o Slhiri, p. 119) says he found at the sea-coast. Probably 
such a peculiar formation arises only at places where the spring floods bring 
down thick layers of mud, which cover the beds of ice formed during the 
winter and protect them for thousands of years from melting. I shall have 
an opportunity of returning to the interesting questions relating to this 
point. 



330 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

specieSj especially at sea^, where in flocks of six or seven it swam 
incessantly backwards and forwards between the pieces of ice. 

No tents were met with in the neighbourhood of the vessel's 
anchorage, but at many places along the beach there were seen 
marks of old encampments, sooty rolled stones which had been 
used in the erection of the tents, broken household articles, and 
above all remains of the bones of the seal, reindeer, and walrus. 
At one place, a large number of walrus skulls lay in a ri-ng, 
possibly remains from an entertainment following a large catch. 
Near the place where the tents had stood, at the mouth of a small 
stream not yet dried up or frozen. Dr. Stuxberg discovered some 
small mounds containing burnt bones. The cremation had been 
so complete that only one of the pieces of bone that were found 
could be determined by Dr. Almquist. It was a human tooth. 
After cremation the remains of the bones and the ash had been 
collected in an excavation, and covered first with turf and then 
with small flat stones. The encampments struck me as having 




SECTION OF A CHURCH GRAVE. 1 

(After a drawing by A. Stux"berg.) 
a. Layer of burned bones, much weathered. *. Lay«r of turf and twigs. c. Stones. 

been abandoned only a few years ago, and even the collections 
of bones did not appear to me to be old. But we ought to be 
very cautious when we endeavour in the Arctic regions to 
estimate the age of an old encampment, because in judging of 
the changes which the .surface of the earth undergoes with time 
we are apt to be guided by our experience from more southerly 
regions. To how limited an extent this experience may be 
utilised in the high north is shown by Eink's assertion that on 
Greenland at some of the huts of the Norwegian colonists, 
which have been deserted for centuries, footpaths can still be 

^ Since we discovered the Chukches also bury their dead by laying 
them out on the tundra^ we have begun to entertain doubts whether the 
collection of bones dehneated here was actually a grave. Possibly the-^e 
mounds were only the remains of fireplaces, where the Chukches had used 
as fuel train-drenched bones, and which they had afterwards for some reason 
or other endeavoured to protect from the action of the atmosphere. 



IX.] _ TRAFFIC WITH THE CHUKCHEa 331 

distinguished/ an observation to wliich. I would scarcely give 
credence, until I had myself seen something similar at the site 
of a house in the bottom of Jacobshaven ice-fjord in north- 
western Greenland, which had been abandoned for one or two 
centuries. Here footpaths as shaqoly defined as if they had been 
trampled yesterday ran from the ruin in different directions. 
It may therefore very readily happen that the encampments in 
the neighbourhood of our present anchorage were older than we 
would be inclined at first sight to suppose. No refuse heaps of 
any importance were seen here. 

This was the first time that any vessel had lain-to on this 
coast. Our arrival was therefore evidently considered by the 
natives a very remarkable occurrence, and the report of it 
appears to have spread very rapidly. For though there were 
no tents in the neighbourhood, we had many visitors. I still 
availed myself of the opportunity of procuring by barter a 
large number of articles distinctive of the Chukches' mode of 
life. Eight years before I had collected and purchased a large 
number of ethnographical articles, and I was now surprised at 
the close correspondence there was between the household 
articles purchased from the Chukches, and those found in 
Greenland in old Eskimo graves. 

My traffic with the natives was on this occasion attended with 
great difficulty. For I suffered from a sensible want of the first 
condition for the successful prosecution of a commercial under- 
taking, goods in demand. Because, during the expeditions of 
1875 and 1876, I found myself unable to make use of the 
small wares I carried with me for barter with the natives, and 
found that Russian paper-money was readily taken. I had, at 
the departure of the Vegfc from Sweden, taken with me only 
money, not wares intended for barter. But money was of little 
use here. A twenty-five rouble note was less valued by the 
Chukches than a showy soap-box, and a gold or silver coin less 
than tin or brass buttons. I could, indeed, get rid of a few 
fifty-ore pieces, but only after I had first adapted them by 
boring to take the place of earrings. 

The only proper wares for barter I now had were tobacco and 
Dutch clay pipes. Of tobacco I had only some dozen bundles, 
taken from a parcel which Mr. Sibiriakoff intended to import into 
Siberia by theYenisej. Certain as I was of reaching the Pacific 
this autumn, I scattered my stock of tobacco around me with 
so liberal a hand that it was soon exhausted, and my Chukch 
friends' wants satisfied for several weeks. I therefore, as far as 
this currency was concerned, already when the Vega was beset, 
suffered the prodigal's fate of being soon left with an eiopty 

^ H. Rink, Gwnland geograpldslc on statisiisJc hesJcrevef, Bd. 2, Copenhagen, 
1857, p. 344. 



332 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

purse. Dutch clay pipes, again, I liad in great abundance, from 
the accident that two boxes of these pipes, which were to have 
been imported into Siberia with the expedition of 1876, did not 
reacli Trondhjem until the Ymer had sailed from that town. 
They were instead taken on the Vega, and now, though quite 
too fragile for the hard fingers of Chukches, answered well for 
smaller bargains, as gifts of welcome to a large number of 
natives collected at the vessel, and as gifts to children in order 
to gain the favour of their parents. I besides distributed a large 
quantity of silver coin with King Oscar's effigy, in order, if any 
misfortune overtook us, to afford a means of ascertaining the 
places we had visited. 

For the benefit of future travellers I may state that the wares 
most in demand are large sewing and darning needles, pots, 
knives (preferably large), axes, saws, boring tools and other iron 
tools, linen and woollen shirts (preferably of bright- colours, but 
also white), neckerchiefs, tobacco and sugar. To these may be 
added the spirits which are in so great request among all savages ; 
a currency of which, indeed, there was great abundance on the 
Vega, but which I considered myself prevented from making 
use of. In exchange for this it is possible to obtain, in short, 
anything whatever from many of the natives, but by no means 
from all, for even here there are men who will not taste spirits, 
but with a gesture of disdain refuse the glass that is offered 
them. The Chukches are otherwise shrewd and calculating 
men of business, accustomed to study their own advantage. 
They have been brought up to this from childhood through the 
barter which they carry on between America and Siberia. 
Many a beaver-skin that comes to the market at Irbit belongs to 
an animal that has been caught in America, whose skin has passed 
from hand to hand among the wild men of America and Siberia, 
until it finally reaches the Russian merchant. For this barter a 
sort of market is held on an island in Behring's Straits. At 
the most remote markets in Polar America, a beaver-skin is 
said some years ago to have been occasionally exchanged for a 
leaf of tobacco.^ An exceedingly beautiful black fox-skin was 
offered to me by a Chukch for a pot. Unfortunately I had 
none that I could dispense with. Here, too, prices have risen. 
When the Russians first came to Kamchatka, they got eight 
sable-skins for a knife, and eighteen for an axe , and yet the 
Kamchadales laughed at the credulous foreigners who were 
so easily- deceived. At Yakutsk, when the Russians first 
settled there, a pot was even sold for as many sable-skins as 
it could hold.^ 

^ C. von Dittmar, Bulletm hist.-ijhilolog . de VAcad. de St. Petershourg , 
XIII. 1856, p. 130. 

2 Krascheninnikov, Histoire et Description du Kamtschatha, Amsterdam 
1770, II. p. 95. A. Erman, Reise urn die Erde, D. 1, B. 2, p. 255. 



TX.] 



SAILTXG AMONG ICE. 



S33 



During the night before the 10th September, the surface 
ot the sea was covered with a very thick sheet of newly-frozen 
ice, which was broken up again in the neighbourhood of the 
vessel by blocks of old ice drifting about. The pach itself 
appeared to have scattered a httle. We therefore weic^hed 
anchor to continue our voyage. At first a dStour towards'' the 
west was necessary to get round a field of drift-ice. Here too 
however, our way was barred by a belt of old ice, which was 
bound together so firmly by the ice that had been formed in the 
course of the night, that a couple of hours' work with axes and 
ice-hatchets was required to open a channel through it On the 
other side of this belt of ice we came again into pretty open 









IRKAIPIJ. 

(Alter a drawing by O. Nordquist ) 

water, but the fog, instead, became so dense that we had again 
to lie-to at a ground-ice, lying farther out to the sea but more 
to the west than our former resting-place. On the night before 
J- 1th there was a violent motion among the ice. Fortu- 
nately the air cleared in the morning, so that we could hold on 
our course among pretty open ice, until on the approach of nio-ht 
we were obliged as usual to lie-to at a ground-ice. 

Thefollowing day, the 12th September, when we had passed 
Irkaipij, or Cape North, a good way, we fell in with so close ice 
that there was no possibility of penetrating farther. We were 
therefore compelled to return, and were able to make our way 



334 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

with great difficulty among the closely packed masses of drift 
ice. Here the vessel was anchored in the lee of a ground-ice, 
which had stranded near the northernmost spur of Irkaipij, 
until a strong tidal current began to carry large pieces of drift- 
ice past the vessel's anchorage. She was now removed and 
anchored anew in a little bay open to the north, which was 
formed by two rocky points jutting out from the mainland. 
Unfortunately we were detained here, waiting for a better state 
of the ice, until the 18th September. It was this involuntary 
delay which must be considered the main cause of om- 
wintering. 

Irkaipij is the northernmost promontory in that part of Asia, 
which was seen by Cook in 1778. It was, therefore, called by 
him Cape North, a name which has since been adopted in most 





REMAINS OF AN ONKILON HOUSE. 

a. Seen from tlie side. &. From above. 

(After a drawing by O. Nordqiiist.) 

maps, although it is apt to lead to confusion from capes similarly 
named being found in most countries. It is also incorrect, 
because the cape does not form the northernmost promontory 
either of the whole of Siberia, or of any considerable portion of 
it. For the northernmost point of the mainland of Siberia is 
Cape Chelyuskin, the northernmost in the land east of the Lena 
Svjatoinos, the northernmost in the stretch of coast east of 
Chaun Bay, Cape Chelagskoj, and so on. Cape North ought, 
therefore, to be replaced by the original name Irkaipij, which is 
well known to all the natives between Chaun Bay and Behring's 
Straits. 

On the neck of land which connects Irkaipij with the main- 
land, there was at the time of our visit a village consistiug of 
sixteen tents. We saw here also omins, viz. the remains of a larare 



IX.] 



STONE AND SLATE IMPLEMENTS. 



335 



number of old house-sites, which belonged to a race called Onkilon^ 
who formerly inhabited these regions, and some centuries ago were 
driven by the Chukches, according to tradition, to some remote 
islands in the Polar Sea. At these old house-sites Dr. Almquist 
and Lieutenant Nordquist set on foot excavations in order to 
collect contributions to the ethnography of this traditional race. 
The houses appear to have been built, at least partly, of the 
bones of the whale, and half sunk in the earth. The refuse 




IMPLEMENTS FOUND IN THE EUINS OF AU ONKILON HOUSE. 

1. stone chisel ■with bone handle, one-half the natural size. 2, 4. Knives of slate, one-third. 

3, 7. Si-iear-heads of slate, one-third. 5. Spear-head of bone, one-third. 

6. Bone spoon, one-third. 



heaps in the neighbourhood contained bones of several species 
of the whale, among them the white whale, and of the seal, 
walrus, reindeer, bear, dog, fox, and various kinds of birds. 
Besides these remains of the produce of the chase, there were 
found implements of stone and bone, among which were stone 

^ AnTicdi signifies in Chukcli dwellers on the coast, and is now used to 
denote the Chukches living on the coast. A similar word, Onkilon, was 
formerly used as the name of the Eskimo tribe that lived on the coast 
of the Polar Sea when the Chukch migration reached that point. 



336 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ohap. 

axes, which, after lying 250 years in the earth, were still fixed 
to their handles of wood or bone. Even the thongs with which 
the axe had been bound fast to, or ivedged into, the handle, were 
still remaining. The tusks of the walrus ^ had to the former 
inhabitants of the place, as to the Chukches of the present^ 
yielded a material which in many cases may be used with 
greater advantage than flint for s]3ear-heads, bird-arrows, fish- 
hooks, ice-axes, &.c. Walrus tusks, more or less worked, accord- 
ingly were found in the excavations in great abundance. The 
bones of the whale had also been employed on a great scale, but 
we did not find any large pieces of mammoth tusks, an indication 
that the race was not in any intimate contact with the inhabi- 
tants of the regions to the westward, so rich in the remains of 
the mammoth.^ At many places the old Onkilon houses were 
used by the Chukches as stores for blubber; and at others, 
excavations had been made in the refuse heaps in search of 
walrus tusks. Our researches were regarded by the Chukches 
with mistrust. An old man who came, as it were by chance, 
from the interior of the country past the place where we worked, 
remained there a while, regarding our labours with apparent 
indifference, until he convinced himself that from simplicity, or 
some other reason unintelligible to him, we avoided touching the 
blubber-stores, but instead rooted up in search of old fragments 
of bone or stone-flakes. 

Remains of old dwellings were found even at the highest 
points among the stone mounds of Irkaipij, and here perhaps was 
the last asylum of the Onkilon race. At many places on the 
mountain slopes were seen large collections of bones, consisting 
partly of a large number (at one place up to fifty) of bears' 
skulls overgrown with lichens, laid in circles, with the nose 
inwards, partly of the skulls of the reindeer. Polar bear,^ and 
walrus, mixed together in a less regular circle, in the midst of 

^ The walrus now appears to be very rare in the sea north of Behring's 
Straits, but formerly it must have been found there in large numbers, and 
made that region a veritable paradise for every hunting tribe. While we 
during our long stay there saw only a few walruses, Cook, in 1778, saw an 
enormous number, and an interesting drawing of walruses is to be found 
in the account of his third voyage. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc., 
Vol. III. (by James King), London, 1784, p. 259, pi. 52. 

2 The greatest number of mammoth tusks is obtained from the stretches 
of land and the islands between the Chatanga and Chaun Bay. Here the 
walrus is wanting. The inhabitants of North Siberia therefore praise the 
wisdom of the Creator, who lets the walrus live in the regions where the 
mammothis wanting, and has scattered mammoth ivory in the earthy layers 
of the coasts where the walrus does not occur (A. Erman, Re'ise um die 
Erde, Berlin, 1833—48, D. 1, B. 2, p. 264). 

^ Among the bears' skulls brought home from this place Lieut. Nordquist 
found after his return home the skull of a sea-lion (Otaria Stelleri). It is, 
however, uncertain whether the animal was captured in the region, or 
whether the cranium was brought hither from Kamchatka. 



IX.] THE HISTORY OF THE ONKILON RACE. 337 

which reindeer horns were found set up. Along with the 
reindeer horns there was found the coronal bone of an elk with 
portions of the horns still attached. Beside the other bones lay- 
innumerable temple-bones of the seal, for the most part fresh 
and not lichen-covered. Other seal bones were almost com- 
pletely absent, which shows that temple-bones were not remains 
of weathered seal skulls, but had been gathered to the place for 
one reason or another in recent times. No portions of human 
skeletons were found in the neighbourhood. These places are 
sacrificial places, which the one race has inherited from the 
other. 

Weangel gives the following account of the tribe which lived 
here in former times : — 

" As is well known the sea-coast at Anadyr Bay is inhabited 

by a race of men, who, by their bodily formation, dress, 

language, differ manifestly from the Chukches, and call 

themselves Onkilon - seafolk. In the account of Captain 

Billing's journey through the country of the Chukches, 

he shows the near relationship the language of this coast 

tribe has to that of the Aleutians at Kadyak, who are of 

the same primitive stem as the Greenlanders. Tradition 

relates that upwards of two hundred years ago these Onkilon 

occupied the whole of the Chukch coast, from Cape Chelagskoj 

to Behring's Straits, and indeed we still find along the whole of 

this stretch remains of their earth huts, which must have been very 

unlike the present dwellings of the Chukches ; they have the 

form of small mounds, are half sunk in the ground and closed 

above with whale ribs, which are covered with a thick layer of 

earth. A violent quarrel between Krachoj, the chief of these 

North- Asiatic Eskimo, and an errim or chief of the reindeer 

Chukches, broke out into open feud. Krachoj drew the shorter 

straw, and found himself compelled to fly, and leave the country 

with his people ; since then the whole coast has been desolate 

and uninhabited. Of the emigration of these Onkilon, the 

inhabitants of the village Irkaipij, where Krachoj appears to 

liave lived, narrated the following story. He had killed a Chukch 

errim, and was therefore eagerly pursued by the son of the 

murdered man, whose pursuit he for a considerable time escaped. 

Finally Krachoj believed that he had found a secure asylum 

on the rock at Irkaipij, where he fortified himself behind a sort 

of natural wall, which can still be seen. But the young Chukch 

errim, driven by desire to avenge his father's death, finds means 

to make his way within the fortification and kills Krachoj's son. 

Although the blood-revenge was now probably complete according 

to the prevailing ideas, Krachoj must have feared a further 

pursuit by his unrelenting enemy, for during night he lowers 

z 



338 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

himself with thongs from his lofty asylum, nearly overhanging 
the sea, enters a boat, which waits for him at the foot of the cliff, 
and, in order to lead his pursuers astray, steers first towards the 
east, but at nightfall turns to the west, reaches Schalaurov 
Island, and there fortifies himself in an earth hut, whose remains 
we (Wrangel's expedition) have still seen. Here he then collected 
all the members of his tribe, and fled with them in 15 " baydars " 
to the land whose mountains the Chukches assure themselves 
they can in clear sunshine see from Cape Yakan. During the 
following winter a Chukch related to Krachoj disappeared in 
addition with his family and reindeer, and it is supposed that he 
too betook himself to the land beyond the sea. With this 
another tradition agrees, which was communicated to us by the 
inhabitants of Kolyutschin Island. For an old man informed 
me (Wrangel) that durmg his grandfather's lifetime a " baydar" 
with seven Chukches, among them a woman, had ventured too 
far out to sea. After they had long been driven hither and 
thither by the wind, they stranded on a country unknown to 
them, whose inhabitants struck the Chukches themselves as 
coarse and brutish. The shipwrecked men were all murdered. 
Only the woman was saved, was very well treated, and taken 
round the whole country, and shown to the natives as something 
rare and remarkable. So she came at last to the Kargauts, 
a race living on the American coast at Behring's Straits, whence 
she found means to escape to her own tribe. This woman told 
her countrymen much about her travels and adventures ; among 
other things she said that she had been in a great land which 
lay north of Kolyutschin Island, stretched far to the %uest, and 
was probably connected with America. This land was inhabited 
by several races of men ; those living in the west resembled the 
Chukches in every respect, but those living in the east were so 
wild and brutish, that they scarcely deserved to be called men. 
The whole account, both of the woman herself and of the 
narrators of the tradition, is mixed up with so many improbable 
adventures, that it would scarcely be deserving of any attention 
were it not remarkable for its correspondence with the history 
of Krachoj."^ 

"When Wrangel wrote that, he did not believe in the existence 
of the land which is to be found set out on his map in 177° E.L. 
and 71° N.L., and which, afterwards discovered by the English- 
man Kellet, according to the saying, lucus a non lucendo, 
obtained the name- of Wrangel Land. Now we know that the 
land spoken of by tradition actually exists, and therefore there 
is much that even tells in favour of its extending as far as to 
the archipelago on the north coast of America. 

1 Wrangel's Reise, Th. 2, Berlin, 1839, p. 220. 



IX.] STAY AT IRKAIPIJ. 339 

With this fresh light thrown upon it, the old Chukch woman's 
story ought to furnish a valuable hint for future exploratory- 
voyages in the sea north of Behring's Straits, and an important 
contribution towards forming a judgment of the fate which 
lias befallen the American Jeannette expedition, of whiqh, while 
this is being written, accounts are still wanting. i 

Between us and the inhabitants of the present Chukch village 
at Irkaipij there soon arose very friendly relations. A somewhat 
stout, well-grown, tall and handsome man named Chepurin, we 
took at first to be chief He was therefore repeatedly entertained 
in the gunroom, on which occasions small gifts were given him 
to secure his friendship. Chepurin had clearly a weakness for 
gentility and grandeur, and could now, by means of the barter 
he carried on with us and the presents he received, gratify his 
love of show to a degree of which he probably had never 
before dreamed. When during the last days of our stay he paid 
a visit to the Vega he was clad in a red woollen shirt drawn over 
his "pesk," and from either ear hung a gilt watch-chain, to the 
lower end of which a perforated ten-ore piece was fastened. 
Already on our arrival he was better clothed than the others, his 
tent was larger and provided with two sleeping apartments, one 
for each of his wives. But notwithstanding all this we soon 
found that we had made a mistake, when, thinking that a society 
could not exist without government, we assigned to him so 
exalted a position. Here, as in all Chukch villages which we 
afterwards visited, absolute anarchy prevailed. 

At the same time the greatest unanimity reigned in the little 
headless community. Children, healthy and thriving, tenderly 
cared for by the inhabitants, were found in large numbers. A 
good word to them was sufficient to pave the way for a friendly 
reception in the tent. The women were treated as the equals of 
the men, and the wife was always consulted by the husband when a 
more important bargain than usual was to be made ; many times 
it was carried through only after the giver of advice had been 
bribed with a neckerchief or a variegated handkerchief. The 
articles which the man purchased were immediately committed to 
the wife's keeping. One of the children had round his neck a band 
of pearls with a Chinese coin having a square hole in the middle, 

■^ According to a paper in Deutsche GeografiscJie Blatter, B. IV. p. 54, 
Captain E. Dallniann, in 1866, as commander of the Havai schooner W. G. 
Talbot, not only saw but landed on Wrangel Land. As Captain Dallmann 
of recent years has been in pretty close contact with a large number of 
geographers, and communications from him have been previously inserted 
in geographical journals, it appears strange that he has now for the first 
time made public this important voyage. At all events, Dallmann's 
statement that the musk-ox occurs on tlie coast of the Polar Sea and on 
Wrangel Land is erroneous. He has here confused the musk-ox witli 
the reindeer. 

z 2 



340 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ghap. 

suspended from it ; another bore a perforated American cent piece. 
None knew a word of Russian, but here too a youngster could count 
ten in English. They also knew the word " ship." In all the tents, 
reindeer stomachs were seen with their contents, or sacks stuffed 
full of .other green herbs. Several times we were offered in 
return for the bits of sugar and pieces of tobacco which we dis- 
tributed, wrinkled root-bulbs somewhat larger than a hazel nut, 
which had an exceedingly pleasant taste, resembling that of fresh 
t nuts. A seal caught in a net among the ice during our visit was 
cut up in the tent by the women. On this occasion they were 
surrounded by a large number of children, who were now and 
then treated to bloody strips of flesh. The youngsters carried 
on the work of cutting up con amore, coquetting a little with 
their bloody arms and faces. 

The rock which prevails in this region consists mainly of gabbro, 
which in the interior forms several isolated, black, plateau-formed 
hills, 100 to 150 metres high, between which an even, grassy, 
but treeless plain extends. It probably rests on sedimentary 
strata. For on the western side of Irkaipij the plutonic rock is 
seen to rest on a black slate with traces of fossils, for the most 
part obscure vegetable impressions, probably belonging to the 
Permian Carboniferous formation. 

Uneasy at the protracted delay here I made an excursion t(i 
a hill in the neighbourhood of our anchorage, which, according 
to a barometrical measurement, was 129 metres high, in order, 
from a considerable height, to get a better view of the ice than 
was possible by a boat reconnaisance. The hill was called by 
the Chukches Ilammong-Ommang. From it we had an exten- 
sive view of the sea^ It was everywhere covered with closely 
packed drift-ice. Only next the land was seen an open channel, 
which, however, was interrupted in an ominous way by belts of ice. 

The plutonic rock, of which the hill was formed, was almost 
everywhere broken up' by the action of the frost into angular 
blocks of stone, so that its surface was converted into an enor- 
■ mous stone mound. The stones were on the wind side covered 
with a translucent glassy ice-crust, which readily fell away, 
and added considerably to the difficulty of the ascent. I had 
previously observed the formation of such an ice-crust on the 
northernmost mountain summits of Spitzbergen.^ It arises 
undoubtedly from the fall of super-cooled mist, that is to say of 
mist whose vesicles have been cooled considerably below the 
freezing-point without being changed to ice, which first takes 
place when, after falling, they come in contact with ice or snow, or 
some angular hard object. It is such a mist that causes the icing- 
down of the rigging of vessels, a very unpleasant phenomenon 

^ Cf. Redogorelse for den svensha polarexpeditionen ar 1873-73 (Bihang 
till Vet. Ak. handl. Bd. 2, No. 18, p. 91). 



IX.]- 



SUPER-COOLED MIST. 



541 



for the navigator, which we experienced during the following 
days, when the tackling of the Vega, was covered with pieces of 
ice so large, and layers so thick, that accidents might have 
happened by the falling of the ice on the deck.^ 




ALGA FROM IRKAIPJJ. 

Laminaria solidungula (J. G. Ag.)- 

The dredgings here yielded to Dr. Kjellman some algse, and 
to Dr. Stuxberg masses of a species of cumacea, Diastylis 

^ A more dangerous kind of icing down threatens the navigator in severe 
weather not only in the Polar Seas but also in the Baltic and the North Sea. 
For it happens at that season that the sea-water at the surface is over- 
cooled, that is, cooled below the freezing-point without being frozen. 
Every wave which strikes the vessel is then converted by the concussion 
into ice-sludge, which increases and freezes together to hard ice so speedily 
that all attempts to remove it from the deck are in vain. In a few hours 
the vessel may be changed into an unmanageable floating block of ice 
Avhich the sailors, exhausted by hard labour, must in despair abandon to its 
fate. Such an icing down, though with a fortunate issue, befell the steamer 
Sofia in the mouth of October ofE Bear Island, during the Swedish Polar 
Expedition of 1868. 



342 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Batlikei Kr., of Aeaoithosfephia Malmgreni Goes, and Li2oaris 
gelatinosus Pallas, but little else. On the steep slopes of the 
north side of Irkaipij a species of cormorant had settled in so 
larcre numbers that the cliff there mis^ht be called a true fowl- 
fell. A large number of seals were visible among the ice, and 
along with the cormorant a few other birds, principally phala- 
ropes. Fish were now seen only in exceedingly small numbers. 
Even in the summer, fishing here does not appear to be specially 
abundant, to judge from the fact that the Chukches had not 
collected any stock for the winter. We were offered, however, 
a salmon or two of small size. 




CORMORANT FROM IRKAIPIJ. 

Grcwiilus TjicristaUis (Pallas). 



On the 18th September^ the state of the ice was quite 
unchanged. If a wintering was to be avoided, it was, however, 

^ Irkaipij lies in 180° long, from Greenwich. To bring our day-reckoning 
into agreement with that of the New World, we ought thus to have here 
lessened our date by one day, and have written the 17th for the 18th 
September. But as, with the exception of the short excursion to Port 
Clarence and St. Edward Island, we always followed the coasts of the Old 
World, and during our stay in the new hemisphere did not visit any place 
inhabited by Europeans, we retained during the whole of our voyage our 
European day-reckoning unaltered. If we had met with an American 
whaler, we would have been before him one day, our 27th September would 
thus have corresponded to his 26th. The same would have been the case 
on our coming to an American port. 



IX.] VOYAGE EESUMED. 343 

not advisable to remain longer here. It had besides appeared 
from the hill-top which I visited the day before that an open 
water channel, only interrupted at two places by ice, was still to 
be found along the coast. The anchor accordingly was weighed, 
and the Vega steamed on, but in a depth "of only 6 to 8 metres. 
As the Vegas draught is from 4'8 to 5 metres, we had only a 
little water under the keel, and that among ice in quite unknown 
waters. About twenty kilometres from the anchorage, we met 
with a belt of ice through which we could make our way though 
only with great difficulty, thanks to the Vegas strong bow ena- 
bling her to withstand the violent concussions. Our voyage was 
then continued, often in yet shallower water than before, until 
the vessel, at 8 o'clock in the morning, struck on a ground 
ice foot. The tide was falling, and on that account it was not 
until next morning that we could get off, after a considerable 
portion of the ground-ice, on whose foot the Vega had run up, 
had been hewn away with axes and ice-hatchets. Some attempts 
were made to blast the ice with gunpowder, but they were un- 
successful. For this purpose dynamite is much more efficacious, 
and this explosive ought therefore always to form part of the 
equipment in voyages in which belts of ice have to be broken 
through. 

On the 19th we continued our voyage in the same way as 
before, in still and for the most part shallow water near the 
coast, between high masses of ground-ice, which frequently had 
the most picturesque forms. Later in the day we again fell in 
with very low ice formed in rivers and shut-in inlets of the sea, 
and came into slightly salt water having a temperature above 
the freezing-point. 

After having been moored during the night to a large ground- 
ice, the Vega continued her course on the 20th September 
almost exclusively among low, dirty ice, which had not been 
much pressed together during the preceding winter. This ice 
was not so deep in the water as the blue ground-ice, and could 
therefore drift nearer the coast, a great inconvenience for our 
vessel, which drew so much water. We soon came to a place 
where the ice was packed so close to land that an open channel 
only 3^ to 4|- metres deep remained close to the shore. We 
were therefore compelled after some hours' sailing to lie-to at a 
ground-ice to await more favourable circumstances. The wind 
had now gone from west to north and north-west. Notwith- 
standing this the temperature became milder and the weather 
rainy, a sign that great open stretches of water lay to the north 
and north-west of us. During the night before the 21st it 
rained heavily, the wind being N.N.W. and the temperature 4- 
2°. An attempt was made on that day to find some place where 
the belt of drift-ice that was pressed against the land could be 



344 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

broken through, but it was unsuccessful, probably in consequence 
of the exceedingly dense fog which prevailed. 

Dredging gave but a scanty yield here, probably because the 
animal life in water so shallow as that in which we were 
anchored, is destroyed by the ground-ices, which drift about 
here for the greater part of the year. Excursions to the neigh- 
bouring coast on the other hand, notwithstanding the late season 
of the year, afforded to the botanists of the Vega valuable in- 
formation regarding the flora of the region. 

On the 22nd I made, along with Captain Palander, an excursion 
in the steam launch to take soundings farther to the east. We 
soon succeeded in discovering a channel of sufficient depth and 
not too much blocked with ice, and on the 23rd the V^ega was 





PIECES OF ICF. FROM THE COAST OF THE CHUKCH PENINSULA. 

(After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 

able to resume her voyage among very closely packed drift-ice, 
often so near the land that she had only a fourth of a metre of 
water under her keel. We went forward however, if slowl3^ 

The land here formed a grassy plain, still clear of snow, rising 
inland to gently sloping hills or earthy heights. The beach 
was strewn with a not inconsiderable quantity of driftwood, and 
here and there were seen the remains of old dwelling-places. 
On the evening of the 23rd September we lay-to at a ground-ice 
in a pretty large opening of the ice-field. This opening closed 
in the course of the night, so that on the 24th and 25th we 
could make only very little progress, but on the 26th we 
continued our course, at first with difficulty, but afterwards 



IX.] - STOPPED BY ICE. 345 

in pretty open water to the headland which on the maps is 
called CajDe Onman. The natives too, who came on board here, 
gave the place that name. The ice we met with on that day 
was heavier than before, and bluish-white, not dirty. It was 
accordingly formed farther out at sea. 

On the 27th we continued our course in somewhat open water 
to Kolyutschin Bay. No large river debouches in the bottom 
of this great fjord, the only one on the north coast of Asia which, 
by its long narrow form, the configuration of the neighbouring 
shores, and its division into two at the bottom, reminds us of the 
Spitzbergen fjords which have been excavated by glaciers. The 
mouth of the bay was filled with very closely packed drift-ice 
that had gathered round the island situated there, which was 
inhabited by a large number of Chukch families. In order to 
avoid this ice the Vega made a considerable detour up the fjord. 
The weather was calm and fine, but new ice was formed every- 
where among the old drift-ice where it was closely packed. 
Small seals swarmed by hundreds among the ice, following the 
wake of the vessel with curiosity. Birds on the contrary were 
seen in limited numbers. Most of them had evidently already 
migrated to more southerly seas. At 4.45 P.M. the vessel was 
anchored to an ice-floe near the eastern shore of the fjord. It 
could be seen from this point that the ice at the headland, which 
bounded the mouth of the fjord to the east, lay so near land' 
that there was a risk that the open water next the shore would 
not be deep enough for the Vega. 

Lieutenant Hovgaard was therefore sent with the steam 
launch to take soundings. He returned with the report that 
the water off the headland was sufficiently deep. At the same 
time, accompanied by several of the naturalists, I made an 
excursion on land. In the course of this excursion the hunter 
Johnsen was sent to the top of the range of heights which 
occupied the interior of the promontory, in order to get a view 
of the state of the ice farther to the east. Johnsen too returned 
with the very comforting news that a very broad open channel 
extended beyond the headland along the coast to the south-east. 
I was wandering about along with my comrades on the slopes 
near the beach in order, so far as the falling darkness permitted, 
to examine its natural conditions, when Johnsen came down ; 
he informed us that from the top of the height one could hear 
bustle and noise and see fires at an encampment on the other 
side of the headland. He supposed that the natives were 
celebrating some festival. 1 had a strong inclination to go 
thither in order, as I thought, "to take farewell of the Chukches," 
for I was quite certain that on some of the following days we 
should sail into the Pacific. But it was already late in the 
evening and dark, and we were not yet sufficiently acquainted 



346 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

with the disposition of the Chukches to go by night, without 
any serious occasion, in small numbers and provided only with 
the weapons of the chase, to an encampment with which we 
were not acquainted. It was not until afterwards that we 
learned that such a visit was not attended with any danger. 
Instead of going to the encampment, as the vessel in any case 
could not weigh anchor this evening, we remained some hours 
longer on the beach and lighted there an immense log fire of 
drift-wood, round which we were soon all collected, chatting 
merrily about the remaining part of the voyage in seas where 
not cold but heat would trouble us, and where our progress at 
least would not be obstructed by ice, continual fog, and unknown 
shallows. None of us then had any idea that, instead of the 
heat of the tropics, we would for the next ten months be 
experiencing a winter at the pole • of cold, frozen in on an 
unprotected road, under almost continual snow-storms, and 
with a temperature which often sank below the freezing-point 
of mercury. 

The evening was glorious, the sky clear, and the air so calm 
that the flames and smoke of the losr fire rose high as^ainst the 
sky. The dark surface of the water, covered as it was with a 
thin film of ice,, re fleeted its light as a fire-way straight as a line, 
bounded far away at the horizon by a belt of ice, whose in- 
equalities appeared in the darkness as the summits of a distant 
high mountain chain. The temperature in the quite draught- 
free air was felt to be mild, and the thermometer showed only 
2° under the freezing-point. This slight degree of cold was 
however sufficient^ to cover the sea in the course of the night 
with a sheet of newly-frozen ice, which, as the following days' 
experience showed, at the opener places could indeed only delay, 
not obstruct the advance of the Vega, but which however bound 
together the fields of drift-ice collected off the coast so firmly 
that a vessel, even with the help of steam, could with difficulty 
force her way through. 

When on the following day, the 28th September, we had 
sailed past the headland which bounds Kolyutschin Bay on the 
east, the channel next the coast, clear of drift-ice, but covered 
with newly formed ice, became suddenly shallow. The depth 
was too small for the Vega, for which we had now to seek a 
course among the blocks of ground-ice and fields of drift-ice in 
the offing. The night's frost had bound these so firmly together 
that the attempt failed. We were thus compelled to lie-to at a 
ground-ice so much the more certain of getting off with the 
first shift of the wind, and of being able to traverse the few 
miles that separated- us from the open water at Behring's Straits, 
as whalers on several occasions had not left rthis region until the 
middle of October. 



IX.] INFORMATION REGARDING THE ICE IN BEHRING'S SEA. 347 

As American whalers had during the last decades extended 
their whale-fishing to the North Behring Sea, I applied before 
my departure from home both directly and through the Foreign 
Office to several American scientific men and authorities with a 
request for information as to the state of the ice in that sea. In 
all quarters my request was received with special good-will and 
best wishes for the projected journey. I thus obtained both a 
large quantity of printed matter otherwise difficult of access, and 
maps of the sea between North America and North Asia, and 
oral and written communications from several persons : among 
whom may be mentioned the distinguished naturalist, Prof. 
W. H. Dall of Washington, who lived for a long time in the 
Territory of Alaska and the north part of the Pacific; Admiral 
John Eodgers, who was commander of the American man-of-war, 
Vincennes, when cruising north of Behring's Straits in 1855 ; and 
Washburn Maynod, lieutenant in the American Navy. I had 
besides obtained important information from the German sea- 
captain E. Dallmann, who for several years commanded a 
vessel in these waters for coast traffic with the natives. Space 
does not permit me to insert all these writings here. But to 
show that there were good grounds for not considering the season 
of navigation in the sea between Kolyutschin Bay and Behring's 
Straits closed at the end of September, I shall make some 
extracts from a letter sent to me, through the American Consul- 
General in Stockholm, N. A. Elving, from Mr. MiLLER, the 
president of the Alaska Commercial Company, 

" The following is an epitome of the information we have 
received regarding the subject of your inquiry. 

" The bark Massachusetts, Captain O. Williams, was in 74° 
30' N.L. and 173° W.L. on the 21st Sept. 1867. No ice in 
sight in the north, but to the east saw ice. Saw high peaks 
bearing W.N. W. about 60'. Captain Williams is of opinion that 
Plover Island, so-called by Kellet, is a headland of Wrangel 
Land. Captain Williams says that he is of opinion from his 
observations, that usually after the middle of August there is 
no ice south of 70° — west of 175°, until the 1st of October. 
There is hardly a year but that you could go as far as Cape 
North (Irkaipij), which is 180°, during the month of September. 
If the winds through July and August have prevailed from the 
S.W., as is usual, the north shore will be found clear of ice. 
The season of 1877 was regarded as an ' icy season,' a good deal 
of ice to southward. 1876 was an open season ; as was 1875. 
Our captain, Gustav Niebaum, states that the east side of 
Behring's Straits is open till November ; he passed through 
the Straits as late as October 22nd two different seasons. The 
north shore was clear of all danofer within reasonable distance. 



348 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. ix. 

In 1869 the bark Navy anchored under Kolyutschin Island from 
the 8th to the 10th October. On the 10th October of that year 
there was no ice south and east of Wrangel Land." 

These accounts show that I indeed might have reason to be 
uneasy at my ill luck in again losing some days at a place at 
whose bare coast, exposed to the winds of the Polar Sea, there 
was little of scientific interest to employ ourselves with, little at 
least in comparison with what one could do in a few days, for 
instance, at the islands in Behring's Straits or in St. Lawrence 
Bay, lying as it does south of the easternmost promontory of 
Asia and therefore sheltered from the winds of the Arctic Ocean, 
but that there were no grounds for fearing that it would be 
necessary to winter there. I also thought that I could come to 
the same conclusion from the experience gained in my wintering 
on Spitzbergen in 1872-73, when permanent ice was first formed 
in our haven, in the 80th degree of latitude, during the month of 
February. Now, however, the case was quite different. The 
fragile ice-sheet, which on the 28th September bound together 
the ground-ices and hindered our progress, increased daily in 
strength under the influence of severer and severer cold until it 
was melted by the summer heat of the following year. -Long 
after we were beset, however, there was still open water on the 
coast four or five kilometres from our winter haven, a,nd after our 
return home I was informed that, on the day on which we 
were frozen in, an American whaler was anchored at that 
place. 

Whether our sailing along the north coast of Asia to Kolyut- 
schin Bay was a fortunate accident or not, the future will show. 
I for my part believe that it was a fortunate accident, which will 
often happen. Certain it is, in any case, that when we had come 
so far as to this point, our being frozen in was a quite accidental 
misfortune brought about by an unusual state of the ice in the 
autumn of 1878 in the North Behrinsr Sea. 



CHAP. X.] THE POSITION OF THE VEGA. 349 



CHAPTER X. 

Wintering becomes necessary— The position of the Vega — The ice round 
the vessel — American ship in the neighbourhood of the Vega when 
frozen in — The nature of the neighbouring country — The Vega is prepared 
for wintering — Provision-depot and observatories established on land 
— The winter dress — Temperature on board — -Health and dietary — Cold, 
wind, and snow — The Chukches on board — Menka's visit — Letters sent 
home — Nordquist and Hovgaard's excursion to Menka' s encampment — 
Another visit of Menka — The fate of the letters — Nordquist's journey 
to Pidlin — Find of a Chukch grave — Hunting — -Scientilic work — Life 
on board — Christmas Eve. 

Assured that a few hours' southerly wind would be sufficient 
to break up the belt of ice, scarcely a Swedish mile ^ in breadth, 
that barred our way, and rendered confident by the above- 
quoted communications from experts in America concerning the 
state of the ice in the sea north of Behring's Straits, I was not 
at first very uneasy at the delay, of which we took advantage 
by making short excursions on land and holding converse with 
the inhabitants. First, when day after day passed without any 
change taking place, it became clear to me that we must make 
preparations for wintering just on the threshold between the 
Arctic and the Pacific Oceans. It was an unexpected dis- 
appointment, which it was more difficult to bear with equanimity, 
as it was evident that we would have avoided it if we had come 
some hours earlier to the eastern side of Kolyutschin Bay. 
There were numerous occasions during the preceding part of our 
voyage on which these hours might have been saved : the Vega 
did not require to stay so long at Port Dickson, we might have 
saved a day at Taimur Island, have dredged somewhat less west 
of the New Siberian Islands, and so on ; and above all, our long 
stay at Irkaipij waiting for an improvement in the state of the 
ice, was fatal, because at least three days were lost there without 
any change for the better taking place. 

The position of the vessel was by no means very secure. For 
the Vega, when frozen in, as appears from the sketch map to be 
found further on, did not lie at anchor in any haven, but was 
only, in the expectation of finding a favourable opportunity to 
steam on, anchored behind a ground-ice, which had stranded 
in a depth of 9|- metres, 1,400 metres from land, in a road 
which was quite open from true N. 74° W. by north to east. 
The vessel had here no other protection against the violent ice- 
pressure which winter storms are wont to cause in the Polar 
seas, than a rock of ice stranded at high water, and therefore 
also at high water not very securely fixed. Fortunately the tide 

^ Equal to 6 "Gi English miles. 



350 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHAr. 



just on the occasion of our being frozen in, appears to have been 
higher than at any other time during the course of the winter. 
The ice-rocks, therefore, first floated again far into the summer 
of 1879, when their parts that projected above the water had 
diminished by melting. Little was wanting besides to make 
our winter haven still worse than it was in reality. For the 
Vega was anchored the first time on- the ,28th September at 
some small ice-blocks which had stranded 200 metres nearer the 
land, but was removed the following day from that place, because 
there were only a few inches of water under her keel. Had the 
vessel remained at her first anchorage, it had gone ill with us. 




TOROSS. 

From the neighbourhood of the Vega's winter quarters. 



For the newly formed ice, during the furious autumn storms, 
especially during the night between the 14th and 15th 
December, was pressed over these ice-blocks. The sheet of ice, 
about half a metre thick, was thereby broken up with loud noise 
into thousands of pieces, which were thrown up on the under- 
lying ground-ices so as to form an enormous toross, or rampart of 
loose, angular blocks of ice. A vessel anchored there would 
have been buried under pieces of ice, pressed aground, and 
crushed very early in the winter. 

When the Vega was beset, the sea near the coast, as has been 



X.] THE ICE EOUND THE VESSEL. 351 

already stated, was -covered with newly formed ice, too thin to 
carry a foot passenger, but thick enough to prevent the passage 
of a boat. In the offing lay, as far as the eye could see, closely 
packed drift-ice, which was bound together so firmly by the 
newly formed ice, that it was vain to endeavour to force a 
passage. Already, by the 2nd October, it was possible, by 
observing the necessary precautions, to walk upon the newly 
formed ice nearest the vessel, and on the 3rd October, the 
Chukches came on board on foot. On the 10th there were 
still weak places here and there between the vessel and the 
land, and a blue sky to the eastward indicated that there was 
still open water in that direction. That this " clearing " was at a 
considerable distance from the vessel was seen from an excursion 
which Dr. Almquist undertook in a north-easterly direction on 
the 13th October, when, after walking about twenty kilometres 
over closely packed drift-ice, he was compelled to turn without 
having reached the open water. It was clear that the Vega was 
surrounded by a band, at least thirty kilometres broad, of drift- 
ice fields, united by newly formed ice, which in the course of 
the winter reached a considerable thickness.' 

In this immense ice-sheet there often arose in the course of 
the winter cracks of great length. They ran uninterruptedly 
across newly formed ice-fields, and old, high ground-ices. One 
of the largest of these cracks was formed on the night before 
the 15th December right under the bow of the vessel. It was 
nearly a metre broad, and very long. Commonly the cracks were 
only some centimetres broad, but, notwithstanding this, they 
were troublesome enough, because the sea-water forced itself 
up through them to the surface of the ice and drenched the 
snow lying next to it. 

The causes of the formation of the cracks were twofold. 
Either they arose from a violent wind disturbing somewhat the 
position of the newly formed ice, or through the contraction of 
the ice in severe cold. The formation of the cracks took place 
with a more or less loud report, and, to judge from the number of 
these reports, more frequently than could be observed from the 

1 When it had become evident that we conld make no further advance 
before next year, Lieut. Brusewitz occasionally measured the thickness of 
the newly formed ice, with the following results : — 

THICKNESS OF THE ICE. 

1 December, 56 centimetres. 1 May, 154 centimetres. 
1 January, 92 „ 15 „ 162 



1 February, 108 

15 „ 120 

1 March, 123 

1 April, 128 

15 „ 139 



t 1 June, 154 

15 „ 151 

1 July, 104 

15 „ 67 



18 „ The ice broke up 



(full of holes). 



352 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [,;hap. 

appearance of the snow-covered ice. Thus even during severe cold 
the apparently continuous ice-sheet was divided into innumerable 
pieces lying in the close proximity of each other, which either 
were completely loose or bound together only by the weak ice- 
band which was gradually formed under the snow on the surface 
of the water Avliich had forced its Avay into the crack. Up to 
a distance of about six kilometres from the shore the ice in any 
case lay during the course of the whole winter nearly undis- 
turbed, with the exception of the small cracks just mentioned. 
Farther out to sea, on the other hand, it was in constant motion. 
So-called polynias or open places probably occur here all the year 
round, and when the weather was ftxvourable we could therefore 
nearly always see a blue water sky at the horizon from true N.W. to 
E. A southerly wind after some days brought the open water 
channel so near the vessel that it was possible to walk to it in a 
few hours. It then swarmed with seals — an indication that it was 
in connection with a sea that was constantly open. The neighbour- 
hood of such a sea perhaps also accounts for the circumstance 
that we did not see a single seal-hole in the ice-fields that 
surrounded the vessel. 

The ground-ice, to which the Vega was moored on the 29th 
September, and under which she lay during the course of the 
winter, was about forty metres long and twenty-five metres 
broad ; its highest point lay six metres above the surface of the 
water. It was thus not very large, but gave the vessel good 
shelter. This ground-ice, along with the vessel and the newly 
formed ice-field lying between it and the shore, was indeed 
nioved considerably nearer land during the violent autumn 
storms. A groan or two and a knocking sound in the hull of 
the vessel indicated that it did not escape very severe pressure ; 
but the Vega did not during the course of the winter suffer any 
damage, either from this or from the severe cold, during which 
sharp reports often indicated that some crack in the wood- 
work had widened through the freezing of the water that had 
made its way into the vessel. " Cold so that the walls crack " 
is a well-known expression, with which we inhabitants of the 
North often connect memories from some stormy winter even- 
ing, passed by the home hearth ; but here these reports heard in 
our cabins, especially at night, were unpleasant enough, giving 
rise to fears that the ncAvly formed or widened cracks would 
cause dangerous leaks in the vessel's hull. In consequence of 
iron contracting more than wood under the influence of cold, 
the heads of the iron bolts, with which the ship's timbers 
were fastened together, in the course of the winter sank deep 
into the outside planking. But no serious leak arose in this 
way, perhaps because the cold only acted on that part of the 
vessel which lay above the surface of the water. 



X.] AMERICAN SHIP IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. 353 

Already during the first days of our wintering we interpreted 
various lively accounts of the natives, which they illustrated by 
signs, to mean that a whaler would be found at Serdze Kamen, 
in the neighbourhood of the Vegas winter haven. On this 
account Lieutenant Brusewitz was sent out on the 4th October 
with two men and the little boat, Louise, built in Copenhagen 
for the expedition of 1872-73, and intended for sledge-journeys, 
with instructions to ascertain, if possible, if such was the case. 
He returned late at night the same day without having got 
sight of any vessel. We now supposed that the whole depended 
on our having misunderstood the accounts of the Chukches. 
But a letter which I received after our return, from Mr. W. 
Bartlett, dated New Bedford, 6 th January, 1880, shows that 
this had not been the case. For he writes, among other 
things : — 

" The writer's son, Gideon W. Baetlett, left San Francisco 
1st June, 1878, in our freighter ship Syren, of 875 tons, for 
St. Lawrence Bay, arriving there July 8th, and, after loading 
6,100 barrels of oil and 37,000 lbs. of bone from our whalers, 
she sailed for New Bedford direct, touching at Honolulu to 
land her bone, to come here via San Francisco, and he joined 
our whaler bark, Rainboiv, at St.- Lawrence Bay, and went on 
a tour of observation and pleasure, visiting Point Barrow and 
going as far east as Lion Eeefs, near Camden Bay, and then 
returning to Point Barrow, and going over to Herald Island, 
and while there visiting our different whalers, seeing one " bow- 
head " caught and cut in, and September 25th he came down 
in the schooner W. M. Meyer to San Francisco, arriving there 
October 22nd. By a comparison of dates we find he passed 
near Cape Serdze September 29th, or one day after you anchored 
near Kolyutschin Bay." 

The 29th September according to the American day-reckoning 
corresponds to the 30th according to that of the old world, which 
Avas still followed on board the Vega. The schooner W. M. 
Meyer thus lay at Serdze Kamen two days after we anchored in 
our winter haven. The distance between the two places is only 
about 70 kilometres. 

The winter haven was situated in 67° 4' 49" north latitude, 
and 173° 23' 2" longitude west from Greenwich, 1'4 kilo- 
metres from land. The distance from East Cape was 120', 
and from Point Hope near Cape Lisburn on the American 
side, ISO'. 

The neighbouring land formed a plain rising gradually from 
the sea, slightly undulating and crossed by river valleys, which 
indeed when the Vega was frozen in was covered with hoarfrost 

A A 



354 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. x. 

and frozen, but still clear of snow, so that our botanists could 
form an idea of the flora of the region, previously quite unknown. 
Next the shore were found close beds of Elymus, alternating 
with carpets of HaliantMis peploides, and further up a poor, even, 
gravelly soil, covered with water in spring, on which grew only 
a slate-like lichen, Gyrophora proboscidea, and a few flowering 
jDlants, of which Armeria sihirica was the most common. 
Within the beach were extensive salt and fresh-water lagoons, 
separated by low land, whose banks were covered with a pretty 
luxuriant carpet, formed of mosses, grasses, and Carices. But 
lirst on the neighbouring high land, where the weathered gneiss 
strata yielded a more fertile soil than the sterile sand thrown 
up out of the sea, did the vegetation assume a more variegated 
stamp. No trace of trees ^ was indeed found there, but low 
willow bushes, extensive carpets of Empetrum nigrum and 
Andromeda tctragona were seen, along with large tufts of a 
species of Artemisia. Between these shoot forth in summer, to 
judge partly from the dried and frozen remains of plants which 
Dr. Kjellman collected in autumn, partly from collections made 
in spring, a limited number of flowering plants, some of which 
are well known at home, as the red whortleberry, the cloud- 
berry, and the dandelion. 

Although experience from preceding Polar journeys and 
sjDecially from the Swedish expedition of 1872-73, showed that 
even at the 80th degree of latitude the sea may suddenly break 
up in the middle of winter, we however soon found, as has 
been already stated, that we must make preparations for 
wintering. The necessary arrangements were accordingly made. 
The snow which collected on deck, and which at first was daily 
swept away, was allowed to remain, so that it finally formed a 
layer 30 centimetres thick, of hard tramped snow or ice, which 
in no inconsiderable degree contributed to increase the resistance 
of the deck to cold, and for the same purpose snowdrifts were 
thrown up along the vessel's sides. A stately ice stair was 
carried up from the ice to the starboard gunwale. A large tent 
made for the purpose at Karlskrona was pitched from the bridge 
to the fore, so that only the poop was open. Aft the tent was 
quite open, the blast and drifting snow having also free entrance 
from the sides and from an incompletely closed opening in the 
fgre. The protection it yielded against the cold was indeed 
greatly diminished in this way, but instead it did not have the 
least injurious action on the air on the vessel, a circumstance 
specially deserving of attention for its influence on the state of 
health on board. Often under this tent in the dark days of 
winter there blazed a brisk smithy fire, round which the 

^ Low brush is probably to be met with in the interior of the Chukch 
peninsula at places which are protected from the cold north winds. 







a a 



35G THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [rn.vp, 

Chukclies crowded in curious wonder at the skill with which 
the smith fashioned the glowing iron. Here the cook dealt out 
to the Chukches the soup and meat that were left over, and the 
loaves of bread which at every baking were baked for them. 
Here was our reception saloon, where tobacco and sugar were 
distributed to the women and children, and where sometimes, if 
seldom, a frozen hunter or fisherman was treated to a little 
spirits. Here jaieces of wood and vertebrae of the whale were 
valued and purchased, and here tedious negotiations were 
carried on regarding journeys in dog-sledges in different 
directions. 

The violent motion which took place in the ice during the 
night before the 15th December, gave us a sharp warning that 
our position in the open road was by no means so secure as was 
desirable, but that there was a possibility that the vessel might 
be nipped suddenly and without any previous warning. If such 
a misfortune had happened, the crew of the Vega would certainly 
have had no difficulty in getting to land over the ice. But the 
yield of hunting appeared to be so scanty, and the Chukches 
were, as almost always, so destitute of all stock of provisions — 
for they literally obey the command to take no thought for to- 
morrow — that there was every probability that we, having come 
safe ashore, would die of hunger, if no provisions were saved from 
the vessel. This again, as the principal part of the provisions 
was of course down in the hold, would have been attended with 
great difficulty, if the Vega had been suddenly in the night cut 
into by the ice at the water-line. In order as far as possible to 
secure ourselves against the consequences of such a misfortune, 
a depot of provisions, guns, ammunition, &c., reckoned for 80 
men and 100 days, was formed on land. Fortunately we did not 
require to depend upon it. The stores were laid up on the 
beach without the protection of lock or bolt, covered only with 
sails and oars, and no Avatch was kept at the place. Notwith- 
standing this, and the want of food which occasionally prevailed 
among the natives, it remained untouched both by the Chukches 
who lived in the neighbourhood, and by those who daily (h'ove 
past the place from distant regions. All however knew very well 
the contents of the sail-covered heap, and they undoubtedly 
supp.osed that there were to be found there treasures of immense 
value, and provisions enough for the whole population of the 
Chukch peninsula for a whole year. 

The Magnetical Observatory was erected, as will be told in 
greater detail further on, upon the beach a kilometre and a 
half from the vessel. To this house the observers had to walk 
to and fro at least four times in the twenty-four hours over an 
ice-field, covered with loose snow,, as fine as dust, that was set in 



X.] METEOKOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 357 

iiiutiuii by the least puff of wind, and then in a few moments 
completely obliterated every footprint. When the moon did not 
shine, the winter nights were so dark, that it was impossible to 
distinguish the very nearest objects, and day after day during the 
course of the winter we had, besides, drifting snow so thick that 
the high dark hull of the vessel itself could be distinguished 
only when one was in its immediate neighb(Jurliood ! In walk- 
ing from land during the darkness of the night and' in drifting 
snow it would have been very difficult to find one's way to the 
vessel without guidance, and he would have been helplessly lost 
who went astray. To prevent such an accident, the precauti<jn 
was taken of running a line over high ice-pillars between the 
Observatory and the vessel. Even with the help of the guide- 
line it was often difficult enough to find our way. 

The attempt to keep open a channel in the ice round the 
vessel during the whole winter had soon to be given up, but tw(j 
holes were kept constantly open, one by the side of the vessel in 
case of fire, and the other for the tidal observations which 
Captain Palander set on foot during the winter. The latter 
hole was chosen by a little seal as its haunt for a long time, 
until one day we entertained ourselves by catching him with 
the necessary care, and making him pay an involuntary visit on 
board, where he was offered various delicacies, which however 
were disregarded. The seal was let loose again in his hole, but 
notwithstanding the friendliness we showed him, he never more 
returned. 

From the meteorological observations it appears that the win- 
ter was not so cold as the winters in the Franklin archipelago 
or in the coldest parts of the mainland of Siberia.^ On the 
other hand, it was exceedingly stormy at the Vegas winter 
station, and day after day, night after night, we have gone to 
and from the Observatory in a high wind and a cold of —30° 
to — 40° C. In calm weather a cold of — 40° is scarcely very 
troublesome, but with only a slight draught a degree of cold of 
for instance —35° is actually dangerous for one who goes against 
the wind, and without the necessary precautions exposes unco- 
vered parts of the face, the hands, or the wrists, to the cold current 
of air. Without one's being warned by any severe pain frostbite 
arises, which, if it be not in time thawed by rubbing the injured 
part with the hand, or with melting snow, may readily become 
very serious. Most of those who for the first time took part 

^ According to H. Wild's newly-publislied large work, "Die Temperatiiv 
VerJu'tUnisse des Russischen Eeiches, 2e Hiilfte, St. Petersburg, 1881," the 
Old World's cold-pole lies in the neighbourhood of the town VVerchojaiisk 
(67° 34' N.L. 133° 51' E.L. from Greenwich). The nieuu temperature of the 
different months and of the whole year is given in the note at page 411. If 
tlie data on which these figures rest are correct, the winter at Werchojansk 
is inunensely colder than at the Vegas winter station. 



358 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA 



[chap. 



in a wintering in the high north, were, when the first cold 
occurred, more or less frostbitten, on several occasions so that 
there arose high frost-blisters filled with bloody water, several 
square centimetres in extent, but fortunately never to such a 
degree that any serious bad results followed. After we, new- 




THE WINTER DBESd OF THE " VEGA " MEN. 



comers to the Polar regions, warned by experience, became more 
careful, such frostbites occurred but seldom. Nor did there 
occur a single case of frostbite in the feet. To this conduced 
our clothing, which was adapted to the climate, and, besides good 



X.] THE WINTER DRESS. 259 

winter clothes of the sort commonly used in Sweden, consisted of 
the following articles of dress brought with us specially for use 
in the high north : — 

1. An abundant stock of good woollen under-clothing. 

2. A carefully made Mouse of sailcloth, provided with many 
pockets, intended to be drawn over the ordinary seaman's dress 
as a protection against wind and drifting snow. This proved to 
be very suitable for the purpose for which it was intended, and 
was much liked by the crew. 

3. A Lapp "pesk" with leggings was not so often used, because 
it was so warm that it was only with difficulty one could 
walk with it any considerable distance. On the other hand, in 
the case of winter journeys with dogs or reindeer it was 
indispensable. 

4. A pair of very large canvas hoots m ith leather soles. Inside 
these was put -.hay of Carex vesicaria L. The foot itself was covered 
with one or two pairs of stockings, above which there was a foot-strip 
of felt. Our boots were thus intermediate between the foot-covering 
introduced by Parry for Arctic journeys, and the hay-filled Jwmagcr 
of the Lapps. All who used these canvas boots are unanimous 
in thinking that they left nothing to desire. Even in the case 
of extended excursions in wet snow they are to be preferred to 
leather shoes; for the latter become heavy and drenched with 
water, and can with difficulty be dried in the open air in tlie 
course of a night's rest. Canvas boots and the long hay in them 
on the other hand are easily dried in a single night. They arc 
also light when wet, and in that state little prejudicial to health on 
account of the change of air which the hay under the foot renders 
possible. I therefore am of opinion that we are warranted in 
giving such boots the highest recommendaticjn for winter 
journeys and winter hunting excursions, even in our own land. 

5. An Oresund cap and a loose felt hoed (baschlik) of the same 
sort as those which are used in the Russian army. I had bought 
the baschliks in St. Petersburg on account of the Expedition. 

6. Fingerless gloves of sealskin and chamois, with an inside 
lining of sheepskin and at the wrists bordered with long-haired 
fur. They were commonly carried with a band from the neck, 
as children are wont to carry their gloves. For outside W(jrk 
these thick gloves were too inconvenient ; then fingerless 
Wfjollen mittens were used. 

7. Coloured spectacles, which were distributed to all the men 
in the beginning of February. One must himself have lived in 
the Polar regions during winter and spring, " after the return of 
the sun," to understand how indispensable is such a protection 
from the monotonous white light which then surrounds the. eye 
in every direction. The inexperienced, though warned, seld(»m 
observe the necessary precautions, and commonly pay the penalty 



3G0 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

by a more or less complete snowblindness, which indeed is not 
very dangerous, but is always exceedingly painful, and which 
lasts several days. 

On board the vessel in our cabins and collection-rooms it was 
besides by no means so cold as many would suppose. The sides 
of the vessel in several places indeed, especially in the cabins, 
were covered with a thick sheet of ice, and so was the skylight in 
the gun-room. But in the inhabited parts of the vessel we had, a 
little from the sides, commonly a temperature of -}- 12° to -1-17°, that 
is to say about the same as we in the north are wont to have in- 
doors in winter, and certainly higher than the temperature of rooms 
during the coldest days of the year in many cities in the south, 
as for instance in Paris and Vienna. By night however the 
temperature in the cabins sank sometimes to -j- 5° and + 10°, and 
the boarding at the side of the berth became covered with ice. 
In the work-room 'tweendecks the thermometer generally stood 
about -f 10°, and even in the underhold, which was not heated, 
but lay under the water-line, the temperature was never under, 
commonly 1° or 2° above, the freezing-point. 

Much greater inconvenience than from cold did we in the 
cabins suffer from the excessive heat and the fumes, which 
firing in large cast-iron stoves is wont to cause in small close rooms. 
When in the morning after a cold night the watch all too willingly 
obeyed the direction, which sounded from different quarters, to fire 
well, one had often his wish so thoroughly satisfied, that, in half an 
hour after, every man lay bathed in perspiration. There was no 
other help for it than to leave the cabin, take a cold bath and 
a good rub down, dress rapidly, rush on deck for fresh air, 
and cool in the temperature of —30° to —40° prevailing there. 
Other opportunities for bathing were also given both to the officers 
and crew, and the necessary care was taken to secure cleanliness, 
a sanitary measure which ought never to be neglected in Arctic 
winterings. 

The state of health on board during the course of the winter 
was exceedingly good. Dr. Almquist's report enumerates only 
a few serious maladies, all successfully cured, among which may 
be mentioned stomach colds and slight cases of inflammation of 
the lungs, but not a single case of that insidious disease, scurvy, 
which formerly raged in such a frightful way among the crews 
in all long voyages, and which is still wont to gather so many 
victims from among Polar travellers. 

This good state of health depended in the first place on the 
excellent spirit which inspired the scientific men, the officers 
and the crew of the Expedition, but it ought also to be ascribed 
to the suitable equipment of the Vega, arranged by Captain 
Palander at Karlskrona, and above all to adjustment to the 



X.] THE DIETARY. 3G1 

climate of our dietary, which was settled on the ground of the 
experience gained in the expedition of 1872-73, and after 
taking the advice of its distinguished physician Dr. Envall. 
The dietary is shown in the following table : — 

No. 1. Sunday, 

Breahfast : butter 6 ort, coffee 10 ort, sugar 7*5 ort.^ 
Dinner : salt pork or dried fish 75 ort, sourkrout 75 ort, pre- 
served or fresh potatoes 12 ort, preserved vegetables 5"5 ort, 
extract of meat 1'5 ort, raisins 5 ort, rice 50 ort, brandy or 
rum 2 cubic inches. 
Sv/ppcr : butter 6 ort, tea 1"5 ort, sugar 7'5 ort, barley-groats 10 
cubic inches, cheese 12 ort. 

No. 2. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

Breakfast same as No. 1. 

Dinner : preserved meat or fish 1 portion, preserved potatoes 1 2 
ort, preserved vegetables 5*5 ort, preserved leeks 1 portion, 
extract of meat 1'5 ort, brandy or rum 2 cubic inches. 

Sitpper same as No. 1 without cheese. 

No. 8. Thursday. 

Breahfast same as No. 1. 

Dinner : salt pork 1 lb., peas 10 cubic inches, extract of meat 1*5 

ort, barley- groats 2 cubic inches, brandy or rum 2 cubic 

inches. 
Supper same as No. 2, 

No. 4. Tuesday. 

Breakfast: butter 6 ort, chocolate 10 ort, sugar 7" 5 ort. 
Dinner: salt meat 1 lb., maccaroni 15 ort (or brown beans 10 

cubic inches or green peas 1 portion;, fruit soup 1 portion, 

brandy or rum 2 cubic inches. 
Supper same as No. 2. 

No. 5. Saturday. 

Breakfast same as No. 4. 

Dinner : preserved beeksteak or stewed beef 1 portion, preserved 
or fresh potatoes 12 ort, preserved leeks 1 portion, fruit 
soup 1 portion, brandy or rum 2 cubic inches. 

Supper same as No. 2. 

Every man besides had served out to him daily 1\ lb. dried 
bread or flour (§ wheat and \ rye), 3 ort tobacco and 2 cubic 
inches vinegar ; and weekly 1 lb. wheat-flour, 30 ort batter, 21 ort 
salt, 7 ort mustard, 3 ort pepper, and two cubic inches vinegar. 

1 1 lb. = 100 ort = 42o-05 oram. 1 kaDiia = 100 cubic inc:ies = 2-617 litres. 



362 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Besides what is included in the above list, " multegrot " 
(preserved cloudberries), mixed with rum, was served out twice a 
week from the 15th February to the 1st April. I would 
willingly have had a larger quantity of this, according to 
northern experience, excellent antidote to scurvy, but as the 
cloudberry harvest completely failed in 1877, I could not, at any 
price, procure for the Expedition the quantity that was required. 
There was purchased in Finland instead, a large quantity of 
cranberry-juice, which was regularly served out to the crew 
and much liked by them. We carried with us besides a pair of 
living swine, which were slaughtered for the Christmas festivities.^ 
All the men at that time had an opportunity of eating fresh 
pork twice a week, an invaluable interruption to the monotonous 
preserved provisions, which in its proportion conduced, during 
this festival, to which we inhabitants of the North are attached 
by so many memories, to enliven and cheer us. 




COD FROM PITLEKAJ. 

Gadus navaga, Kcilreuter. 
One-tliird of the natural size. 



The produce of hunting was confined during the course 
of the winter to some ptarmigan and hares, and thus did not 
yield any contribution worth mentioning to the provisioning 
of the vessel. On the other hand, I was able by barter with 
the natives to procure fish in considerable abundance, so that at 
certain seasons the quantity was sufficient to allow of fresh 
fish being served out once a week. The kind of fish which was 
principally obtained during the winter, a sort of cod with 
greyish-green vertebrye, could however at first only be served 
in the gun-room, because the crew, on account of the colour of 
its bones, for a long time had an invincible dislike to it. 

On many of the ground-ices in the neighbourhood of the 
vessel there were fresh-water collections of considerable depth 
which indeed were already hard frozen on the surface, but long 

1 To carry animals for slaughter on vessels during Polar espeditions 
cannot be sufficiently recommended. Their flesh acts beneficially by 
forming a change from the preserved provisions, which in course of time 
become exceedingly disagreeable, and their care a not less important 
interruption to the monotony of the winter life. 



X.] , THE GREATEST COLD OBSERVED. 368 

yielded us splendid water for drinking and washing. After the 
14th of December, when all the smaller fresh- water collections 
were almost frozen to the bottom, and salt-water had made its 
way into the largest ones and those on which we most depended, 
it became necessary to procure water by melting ice. 

The meteorological observations were made every fourth hour 
up to the 1st November; after that to the 1st April every hour; 
after that again six times in the twenty-four hours. From the 
27th November to the 1st April the thermometers were set up on 
land at the magnetical observatory ; before and after that time 
in the immediate neighbourhood of the vessel. During winter 
the charge of the meteorological observations was intrusted to 
Dr. Stuxberg, who at that season when all around us was 
covered with ice, was compelled to let his own zoological 
researches rest. 

The state of the weather of course had a very sensible in- 
fluence on our daily life, and formed the touchstone by which 
our equipment was tested. Space does not permit me to 
give in this work the detailed results of the meteorological 
observations. I shall therefore only state the following facts. 

The greatest cold which was observed during the different 
months was in 

October the 24th - 20°-8 March the 29th - :39°-8 
November the 30th - 27°-2 
December the 23rd - 87°- 1 
January the 25th — 4o°'7 
February the 2nd ~ 4 3°' 8 

Twice we had the barometer uncommonly high, viz. : 

On the 22nd December 6 a.m. 782-0 (0°) mm. 
On the 17th February 6 a.m. 788-1 (0°) mm. 

The lowest atmospheric pressure, 728-8 (0°) mm., occurred on 
the 31st December at two o'clock P.M. 

The weather during the winter was very stormy, aud the 
direction of the wind nearest the surface of the earth almost 
constantly between north-west and north-north-west. But 
already in atmospheric strata of inconsiderable height there 
prevailed, to judge by the direction of the clouds, a similar un- 
interrupted atmospheric current from the south-east, which when 
it occasionally sank to the surface of the earth brought with it air 
that was warmer and less saturated with moisture. The reason 
of this is easy to see, if we consider that Behring's Straits form 
a gate surrounded by pretty high mountains between the warm 
atmospheric area of the Pacific and the cold one of the Arctic 
Ocean. The winds must be arranged here approximately after the 
same laws as the draught in the door-opening between a warm and 



April 


the loth - 38°-0 


May 


the 3rd-26°-8 


June 


the 3rd-14°-3 


July 


the 2nd-r-0 



3G4 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

a cold room, that is to say, the cold current of air must go below 
from the cold room to the warm, the warm above from the warm 
room to the cold. The mountain heights which, according to 
the statement of the natives, are to be found in the interior of 
the Chukch peninsula besides conduce to the heat and dryness 
of the southerly and south-easterly winds. For they confer on 
the sea winds that pass over their summits the properties of 
the fohn winds. Our coldest winds have come from S.W. to 
W., that is to say, from the Old World's pole of cold, situated in 
the region of Werchojansk. On the existence of two currents 
of air, which at a certain height above the surface of the earth 
contend for the mastery, depends also the surprising rapidity 
with which the vault of heaven in the region of Behring's Straits 
becomes suddenly clouded over and again completely clear. 
Already the famous Behring's Straits' navigator, RoDGERS, now 
Admiral in the American Navy, had noticed this circumstance, 
and likened it very strikingly to the drawing up and dropping of 
the curtain of a theatre. 

In our notes on the weather a difference was always made 
between snoyixt (fall of snow in wind) and yrsno (snow-storm 
without snow-fall). The fall of snow was not very great, but as 
there was in the course of the winter no thaw of such continu- 
ance that the snow was at any time covered with a coherent 
melted crust, a considerable portion of the snoAV that fell re- 
mained so loose that with the least puff of wind it was whirled 
backwards and forwards. In a storm or strong breeze the snow 
was carried to higher strata of the atmosphere, which was 
speedily filled with so close and fine snow-dust, that objects at 
the distance of a few metres could no longer be distinguished. 
There was no possibility in such weather of keeping the way 
open, and the man that lost his way was helplessly lost, if he 
could not, like the Chukch snowed up in a drift, await the ceasing 
of the storm. But even when the wind was slight and the sky 
clear there ran a stream of snow some centimetres in height 
along the ground in the direction of the wind, and thus 
principally from N.W. to S.E. Even this shallow stream heaped 
snowdrifts everywhere where there was any protection from the 
wind, and buried more certainly, if less rapidly, than the drifting 
snow of the storm, exposed objects and trampled footpaths. The 
■quantity of water, which in a frozen form is removed in this 
certainly not deep, but uninterrupted and rapid current over the 
north coast of Siberia to more southerly regions, must be equal 
to the mass of water in the giant rivers of our globe, and jjlay 
a sufficiently great rdle, among others as a carrier of cold to 
the most northerly forest regions, to receive the attention of 
meteorologists. 

The humidity of the air was observed both by August's 



>:.] HUMIDITY OF THE AIIl. 3G5 

psychrometer and Saussure's hygrometer. But I do not 
believe that these instruments give trustworthy results at a 
tem23erature considerably under the freezing-point. Moreover 
the degree of humidity at the place where there can be a 
question of setting up a psychrometer and hygrometer during 
a wintering in the high north, has not the meteorological 
importance which has often been ascribed to it. For the instru- 
ments are as a rule set up in an isolated louvre case, standing at 
a height above the surface convenient for reading. While the 
snow is drifting almost uninterruptedly it is impossible to keep 
this case clear of snow. Even the air, which was originally 
quite dry, must here be saturated with moisture through evapor- 
ation from the surrounding layers of snow and from the snow 
dust which whirls about next the surface of the earth. In order 
to determine the true degree of humidity in the air, I would 
accordingly advise future travellers to these regions to weigh 
directly the water which a given measure of air contains by 
absorbing it in tubes with chloride of calcium, calcined sulphate 
of copper, or sulphuric acid. It would be easy to arrange an 
instrument for this purpose so that the whole work could be 
done under deck, the air from any stratum under the mast-top 
being examined at will. If I had had the means to make such 
an examination at the Vegas winter quarters, it would certainly 
have appeared that the relative humidity of the air at a height 
of some few metres above the surface of the earth was for the 
most part exceedingly small. 

The sandy neck of land which on the side next the vessel 
divided the lagoons from the sea, was bestrewn with colossal 
bones of the whale, and with the refuse of the Ghukches, who 
had lived and wandered about there for centuries, and besides 
with portions of the skeleton of the seal and walrus, with the 
excreta of men, dogs, birds, &c. The region was among the 
most disagreeable I have seen in any of the parts inhabited 
by fishing Lapps, Samoyeds, Ghukches, or Eskimo. When 
the Vega was beset there were two Chukch villages on the 
neighbouring beach, of which the one that lay nearest our winter 
haven was called Pitlekaj. It consisted at first of seven tents, 
which in consequence of want of food their inhabitants removed 
gradually in the course of the winter to a region near Behring's 
Straits, where fish were more abundant. At the removal only 
the most indispensable articles were taken along, because there 
was an intention of returning at that season of the year when 
the chase again became more productive. The other encamp- 
ment, Yinretlen, lay nearer the cape towards Koljrutschin Bay, 
and reckoned at the beginning of our wintering likewise seven 
tents, whose inhabitants appeared to be in better circumstances 
than those of Pitlekaj. They had during the autumn made a 



366 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHAr, 



better catch and collected a greater stock. Only some of them 
accordingly removed during winter. 

The following encampments lay at a somewhat greater dis- 
tance from our winter quarters, but so near, however, that we 
were often visited by their inhabitants : 

Pidlin, on the eastern shore of Kolyutschin Bay, four tents. 

Kolyutschin, on the island of the same name, twenty-five tents. 
This village was not visited by any of the members of the Vega 
Expedition. 

Rirajtinop, situated six kilometres east of Pitlekaj, three tents. 

Irgunnuk, seven kilometres east of Pitlekaj, ten tents, of 
which, however, in February only four remained. The in- 
habitants of the others had for the winter sought a better 
fishing place farther eastward. 




KAUTLJKAU, A CHURCH GIRL FROM IRGUNNUK. 

Front f.ice and Profile. 
(After photographs bj' L. Tiilander.) 

The number of the persons who belonged to each tent was 
difficult to make out, because the Chukches were constantly 
visiting each other for the purpose of gossip and talk. On an 
average it may perhaps be put at five or six persons. Including 
the inhabitants of Kolyutschin Island, there thus lived about 
300 natives in the neighbourhood of our winter quarters. 

When we were beset, the ice next the shore, as has been 
already stated, was too weak to carry a foot passenger, and the 
difficulty of reaching the vessel from the land with the means 
which the Chukches had at their disposal was thus very great. 
When the natives observed us, there was in any case im- 
mediately a great commotion among them. Men, women, 



X.] THE CHUKCHES ON BOARD. 3G7 

children, a,nd dogs were seen running up and down the beach 
in eager confusion; some were seen driving in dog-sledges 
on the ice street next the sea. They evidently feared that the 
splendid opportunity which here lay before them of purchasing 
brandy and tobacco, would be lost. From the vessel we could 
see with glasses how several attempts were made to put out 
boats, but they were again given up, until at last a boat was got 
to a lane, clear of ice or only covered with a thin sheet, that ran 
from the shore to the neighbourhood of the vessel. In this a 
large skin boat was put out, which was filled brimful of men 
and women, regardless of the evident danger of navigating such 
a boat, heavily laden, through sharp, newly formed ice. They 
rowed immediately to the vessel, and on reaching it most of 
them climbed without the least hesitation over the gunwale with 
jests and laughter, and the cry anoaj anoaj (good day, good day). 
Our first meeting with the inhabitants of this region, where we 
afterwards passed ten long months, was on both sides very 
hearty, and formed the starting-point of a very friendly relation 
between the Chukches and ourselves, which remained unaltered 
during the whole of our stay. 

Regard for cleanliness compelled us to allow the Chukches 
to come below deck only exceptionally, which at first annoyed 
them much, so that one of them even showed a disposition to 
retaliate by keeping us out of the bedchamber in his tent. 
Our firmness on this point, however, combined with friendliness 
and generosity, soon calmed them, and it was not so easy for 
the men to exclude us from the inner tent, for in such visits 
we always had confections and tobacco with us, both for them- 
selves and for the women and children. On board the vessel's 
tent-covered deck soon became a veritable reception saloon for 
the whole population of the neighbourhood. Dog-team after 
dog-team stood all day in rows, or more correctly lay snowed up 
before the ice-built flight of steps to the deck of the Vega, 
patiently waiting for the return of the visitors, or for the 
pemmican I now and then from pity ordered to be given to the 
hungered animals. The report of the arrival of the remarkable 
foreigners must besides have spread with great rapidity. For 
we soon had visits even from distant settlements, and the Vega 
finally became a resting-place at which every passer-by stopped 
with his dog-team for some hours in order to satisfy his curiosity, 
or to obtain in exchange for good words or some more acceptable 
wares a little warm food, a bit of tobacco, and sometimes when 
the weather was very stormy, a little drop of spirits, by the 
Chukches called raw, a word whose origin is not to be sought 
for in the Swedish-Norwegian dram, but in the English word 
rum. 

All who came on board were allowed to go about without let 



•5^8 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

or hindrance on our deck, which was encumbered with a great 
many things. We had not however to lament the loss of the 
('merest trifle. Honesty was as much at home here as in the 
huts of the reindeer Lapps. On the other hand, they soon 
became very troublesome by their beggary, which was kept in 
bounds by no feeling of self-respect. Nor did they fail to take 
all possible advantage of what they doubtless considered the 
great inexperience of the Europeans. Small deceptions in this 
way were evidently not looked upon as blameworthy, but as 
meritorious. Sometimes, for instance, they sold us the same 
thing twice over, they were always liberal in promises which 
they never intended to keep, and often gave decejjtive accounts 
of articles which were exposed for sale. Thus the carcases of 
foxes were offered, after having been flayed and the head and 
feet cut off, on several occasions as hares, and it was laughable 
to see their astonishment at our immediately discovering the 
fraud. The Chukches' complete want of acquaintance with 
money and our smalL supply of articles for barter for which they 
had a liking besides compelled even me to hold at least a portion 
of our wares at a high price. Skins and blubber, the common 
products of the Polar lands, to the great surprise of the natives, 
were not purchased on the Vega. On the other hand a complete 
collection of weapons, dresses, and household articles was pro- 
cured by barter. All such purchases were made exclusively 
on account of the Expedition, and in general the collection of 
natural and ethnographical objects for private account was wholly 
forbidden, a regulation which ought to be in force in every 
scientific expedition to remote regions. 
' " As the Chukches began to acquire a taste for our food, they 
never neglected, especially during the time when their hunting 
failed, to bring daily on board driftwood and the vertebra and 
other bones of the whale. They bartered these for bread. A 
load of five bits of wood, from four to five inches in diameter 
and six feet long, was commonly paid for with two or three ship 
biscuits, that is to say with about 250 gram bread, the vertebra 
of a whale with two ship biscuits, &c. By degrees two young 
natives got into the habit of coming on board daily for the 
purpose of performing, quite at their leisure, the ofiice of 
servant. The cook was their patron, and they obtained from 
him in compensation for their services the larger share of the 
left victuals. So considerable a quantity of food was distributed 
partly as payment for services rendered or for goods purchased, 
partly as gifts, that we contributed in a very great degree to 
mitigate the. famine which during midwinter threatened to 
break out among the population. 

None of the natives in the neighbourhood of the Vega's 
winter station professed the Christian religion. None of them 



X.] 



STUDIES OF THE CHUKCH LANGUAGE. 



369 



spoke any European language, though one or two knew a couple 
of English words and a Russian word of salutation. This was 
a very unfortunate circumstance, which caused us much trouble. 
But it was soon remedied by Lieut. ISIordquist specially devoting 
himself to the study of their language, and that with such zeal 
and success that in a fortnight he could make himself pretty 
well understood. The natives stated to De Long in the autumn 
of 1879 that a person on the " man of war " which wintered on 
the north coast, spoke Chukch exceedingly well. The difficulty 
of .studying the language was increased, to a not inconsiderable 
degree, by the Chukches in their wish to co-operate with us in 
finding a common speech being so courteous as not to correct, 
but to adopt the mistakes, in the pronunciation or meaning of 
words that were made on the Vega. As a fruit of his studies 
Lieut. Nordquist has drawn up an extensive vocabulary of this 
little known language, and given a sketch of its grammatical 
structure.^ The knowledge of the Chukch language, which 



^ I give here an extract from the Vocabulary, that the reader may form 
some idea of the language of the north-east point of Asia :■ — 



Tndergin, heaven. 
Tirhir, the sun. 
Yedlln, the moon. 
Angdtlingan, a star. 
Nutatschka, land. 
Anglea, sea. 
Ljedljenhi, winter. 
MJdJJek, summer. 
Edljongat, day. 
Nekita, night. 
J yguon, yesterday. 
letlcin, to-day. 
Ergdtti, to-morrow. 
Gnunian, north. 
EmnungJcv,, south. 
Nihdyan, east. 
Kayradljgin, west. 

Tintin, ice. 

Atljatlj, snow. 

Yeetedli, the aurora. 

Yengeen, mist. 

Tedljgio, storm. 

Eek, lire. 

Kljautlj, a man, a hum an 
being. 

Ordedlja, men. 

Nediren, a woman. 

Nenena, a child. 

Empendtschyo, father. 

Evipengau, mother. 

Ljeut, head. 

Ljeutljka, face. 

Dljedljddlin, eye. 



Liljdptkdurgin, to see. 
Huedljodlin, ear. 
Huedljokodljdurgin, to 

hear. 
Huddljomerhin, to un- 
derstand. 
Huedljountdkurgin, not 

to understand. 
Yekd, nose. 
Yekergin, mouth. 
Kametkuaurgin, to eat. 
Yedlinedljourgin, to 

speak. 
Mdmmah, a woman's 

breast. 
Mammatkuurgin, to 

give suck. 
Yeet, foot. 

lietschaurgin, to stand. 
Yetkatjergin, to lie. 
Tschipiska, to sleep. 
Kadljetschetue tjdkurgin, 

to learn. 
Pintekatkdurgin, to be 

born. 
Kaertrdljirgin, to die. 
Kdmakatan, to be sick. 
Kdmak, the Deity, a 

guardian Spirit. 
Ydranga, tent. 
Etschengeratlin, lamp. 
drguor, sledge. 
Atkuut, boat. 



Anetljkatlj, fishing- 
hook. 
Anedljourgin, to angle. 
Uddlin, knife. 
Tsch'Apah, Kdmeak, 
,dog. 

Umku, Polar bear. 
B.erka, wairus. 
Memetlj, seal. 
Kdrang, reindeer. 
Gdtlje, bird. 
Enne, fish. 

Gilrgur, dwarf-birch. 
Kukatkokongadlin, wil- 
low-bush. 
Gem, I. 
Geninin, mine. 
Get, you. 
Genin, yours. 
Enkan, he. 
Muri, we. 
Turi, you. 
Mdyngin, much. 
Fljukin, little. 
Konjpong, all. 
J, yes. 
Etlje, no. 

Ifetschinka, thanks. 
Ennen, one. 
Nirak, two. 
Nrok, three. 
Nrak, four. 
Metljingan^ five. 
, B B 




CHUKCHES ANGLING. 




CHAP, x.l THE CHUKCHES FISHING FOR WINTER EOACH. 371 

the other members of the Expedition acquired, was confined to 
a larger or smaller number of words ; the natives also learned a 
word or two of our language, so that a lingua franca 
somewhat intelligible to both parties gradually 
arose, in which several of the crew soon became very 
much at home, and with which in case of necessity 
one could get along very well, although in this 
newly formed dialect all grammatical inflections 
were totally wanting. Besides, I set one of the 
crew, the walrus-hunter Johnsen, free for a con- 
siderable time from all work on board, in order that 
he might wander about the country daily, partly 
for hunting, partly for conversing with the natives. 
He succeeded in the beginning of winter in killing 
some ptarmigan and hares, got for me a great deal 
of important information regarding the mode of 
life of the Chukches, and procured several valuable 
ethnographical objects. But after a time, for what 
reason I could never make out, he took an in- 
vincible dislike to visit the Chukch tents more, 
without however having come to any disagreement 
with their inhabitants. 

On the 5th October the openings between the 
drift-ice fields next the vessel were covered with 
splendid skating ice, of which we availed ourselves 
by celebrating a gay and joyous skating festival. 
The Chukch women and children were now seen 
fishing for winter roach along the shore. In this 
sort of fishing a man, who always accompanies the 
fishing women, with an iron-shod lance cuts a 
hole in the ice so near the shore that the distance 
between the under corner of the hole and the 
bottom is only half a metre. Each hole is used 
only by one woman, and that only for a short 
time. Stooping down at the hole, in which the 
surface of the water is kept quite clear of pieces of 
ice by means of an ice-sieve, she endeavours to 
attract the fish by means of a peculiar wonderfully 
clattering cry. First when a fish is seen in 
the water an angling line, provided with a hook of 
bone, iron or copper, is thrown down, strips of the 
entrails of fish being employed as bait. A small 
metre-long staff with a single or double crook 
in the end was also used as a fishing implement. 
With this little leister the men cast up fish on the ice with 
incredible dexterity. When the ice became thicker, this fishing 

B B 2 



i 



ICE-SIEVE. 

One-eiglith of 
the natural size. 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHA?. 



372 

was entirely given up, while during the whole winter a species 
of cod and another of grayling were taken in great quantity 
in a lagoon situated nearer Behring's Straits. The coregonus is 
also caught in the inland lakes, although, at least at this season 
of the year, only in limited quantity. 

On the morning of the 6th October, we saw from the vessel 
an extraordinary procession moving forward on the ice. A 
number of Chukches drew a dog-sledge on which_ lay a man. 
At first we supposed it was a man who was very ill, and who 
came to seek the help of the physician, but when the proces- 
sion reached the vessel's side, the supposed invalid climbed 
very nimbly up the ice-covered rope-ladder (our ice-stair was 
not yet in order), stepped immediately with a confident air, 
giving evidence of high rank, upon the half-deck, crossed himself, 
saluted graciously, and gave us to know in broken Eussian that 
he was a man of importance in that part of the- country. It 




SMELT FROM THE CHUKCH PENINSULA. 

Osmerus e-perlanus, Lin. 
One third of the natural size. 



now appeared that we were honoured with a visit from the 
representative of the Kussian empire, Wassili Menka, the 
starost among the reindeer-Chukches. He was a little dark 
man, with a pretty worn appearance, clad in a white variegated 
" pesk " of reindeer skin, under which a blue flannel shht was 
visible. In order immediately on his arrival to inspire us with 
respect, and perhaps also in order not to expose his precious 
life to the false Han's treachery, he came to the vessel over the 
yet not quite trustworthy ice, riding in a sledge that was drawn 
not by dogs but by his men. On his arrival he immediately 
showed us credentials of his rank, and various evidences of the 
payment of tribute (or market tolls), consisting of some few red 
and some white fox-skins, reckoning the former at 1 rouble 80 
copecks, the latter at 40 copecks each. 

He was immediately invited down to the gunroom, enter- 
tained after the best of our ability, and bothered with a number 



X.] 



MENKA'S VISIT. 



373 



of questions which he evidently understood with difficulty, and 
answered in very unintelligible Russian. He was in any case 
the first with whom some of us could communicate, at least in a 
way. He could neither read nor write. On the other hand, he 
could quickly comprehend a map which was shown him, and 
point out with great accuracy a number of the more remarkable 
places in north-eastern Siberia. Of the existence of the Russian 
emperor the first official of the region had no idea; on the 
other hand, he knew that a very powerful person had his home 
at Irkutsk, On us he conferred the rank of " Ispravnik " in the 
neio-hbouring towns. At first he crossed himself with much 




WASSILI MENKA. 

Starost among the Eeindeer Chukches 
(After a photograph by L. Palander.) 



zeal before some photographs and copper-plate engravings in 
the gunroom, but he soon ceased when he observed that we 
did not do likewise. Menka was accompanied by two badly- 
clad natives with very oblique eyes, whom we took at first for 
his servants or slaves. Afterwards we found that they were 
owners of reindeer, who considered themselves quite as good as 
Menka himself, and further on we even heard one of them 
speak of Menka' s claim to be a chief with a compassionate 
smile. Now, however, they were exceedingly respectful, and it 
was by them that Menka's gift of welcome, two reindeer roasts, 
was carried forward with a certain stateliness. As a return 



374 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chaf. 

present we gave him a woollen shirt and some parcels of tobacco. 
Menka said that he should travel in a few days to Markova, a 
place inhabited by Russians on the river Anadyr, in the neigh- 
bourhood of the old Anadyrsk. Although I had not yet given 
up hope of getting free before winter, I wished to endeavour 
to utilize this opportunity of sending home accounts of the 
Vegas position, the state of matters on board, &c. An open 
letter was therefore written in Russian, and addressed to his 
Excellency the Governor-General at Irkutsk, with the request 
that he would communicate its contents to his Majesty, King 
Oscar. This was placed, along with several private sealed 
letters between a couple of pieces of board, and handed over to 
Menka with a request to give them to the Russian authorities 
at Markova. At first it appeared as if Menka understood the 
letter as some sort of further credentials for himself. For when 
he landed he assembled, in the presence of some of us, a circle 
of Chukches round himself, placed himself with dignity in their 
midst, opened out the paper, but so that he had it upside down, 
and read from it long sentences in Chukch to an attentive 
audience, astonished at his learning. Next forenoon we had 
another visit of the great and learned chief. New presents 
were exchanged, and he was entertained after our best ability. 
Finally he danced to the chamber-organ, both alone and 
together with some of his hosts, to the great entertainment of 
the Europeans and Asiatics present. 

As the state of the ice was still unaltered, I did not neglect 
the opportunity that now offered of making acquaintance with 
the interior of the country. With pleasure, accordingly, I gave 
Lieutenants Nordquist and Hovgaard permission to pay a visit 
to Menka' s encampment. They started on the morning of the 
8th October. 'Lieut, Nordquist has given me the following 
account of their excursion : — 

" On Tuesday, the 8th October, at 10 o'clock A.M. Lieut. 
Hovgaard i:^-^ and I travelled from Pitlekaj in dog-sledges into 
the interior in a S.S.E. direction. Hovgaard and I had 
each a Chukch as driver. Menka had with him a servant, who 
almost all the time ran before as guide. My comrade's sledge, 
which was heaviest, was drawn by ten dogs, mine by eight, and 
Menka' s, which was the smallest and in which he sat alone, by 
five. In general the Chukches appear to reckon four or five 
dogs sufficient for a sledge wdth one person. 

" The tundra, with marshes and streams scattered over it, 
was during the first part of our way only gently undulating, 
but the farther we went into the interior of the country the 
inore uneven it became, and when, at 8 o'clock next morning, 
we reached the goal of our journey — Menka's brother's camp — 



X.] > AT MENKA'S ENCAMPMENT. 375 

we found ourselves in a valley, surrounded by hills, some of 
whicli rose about 300 metres above their bases. A portion of 
the vegetable covering the tundra could still be distinguished 
through the thin layer of snow. The most common plants on 
the drier places were Aira alpina and Poa cdpina ; on the more 
low-lying places there grew Glyceria, Pedicularis, and Ledum 
pcdustre ; everywhere we found Fetasites frigida and a species 
of Salix. The latter grew especially on the slopes in great 
masses, which covered spots having an area of twenty to thirty 
square metres. At some places this bush rose to a height of 
about a metre above the ground. The prevailing rock appeared 
to be granite. The bottoms of the valleys were formed of post- 
Tertiary formations, which most frequently consisted of sand and 
rolled stones, as, for instance, was the case in the great valley 
in which Menha's brother's camp was pitched. 

" When, on the morning of the 9th, we came to the camp 
there met us some of the principal Chukches. They saluted 
Menka in the Russian way, by kissing him first on both cheeks 



-HUKCH DOG-SLEDGE. 



and then on the mouth. The Chukches, however, appear to 
be very averse to this ceremony, and scarcely ever touched 
each other with the mouth. Us they saluted in the common 
way, by stretching out the hand and bowing themselves. We 
then went into Menka's brother's tent, in front of which the 
whole inhabitants of the encampment were speedily assembled 
to look at us. The camp consisted of eighteen tents, pitched 
on both sides of a river which ran through the valley. The"l 
tents were inhabited by reindeer-Chukches, who carry on traffic 
between the Russians and a tribe living on the other side of 
Behring's Straits, whom they call Yekargaiiks. Between the A 
tents we saw a great number of sledges, both empty and loaded. 
Some of these were light and low sledges for driving in, with 
runners bent upwards and backwards, others were heavier pack- 
sledges, made of stronger wood, with the runners not bent back. 
Some of the light sledges were provided with tilts of splints 
covered with reindeer skins; others were completely covered, 
having an entrance only in front. 



,37G THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

"The knives, axes, boring tools, &c., which I saw were of 
iron and steel, and had evidently been obtained from Americans 
or Russians. The household articles in Menka's brother's tent 
consisted of some copper coffee-pots, which were used for 
boiling water, a german-silver beaker with an English in- 
scription, two teacups with saucers, flat wooden trays, and barrels. 
The dress of the reindeer-Chukches is similar to that of the 
coast-Chukches, only with this difference, that the former use 
reindeer-skins exclusively, while the latter employ seal-skin in 
addition. Some, on our arrival, put on blouses of variegated 
cloth, probably of Russian manufacture. Among ornaments 
may be mentioned glass-beads, strung on sinews, which were worn 
in the ears or on the neck, chiefly by the women. These were 
tattooed in the same way as those of the coast-Chuljches. I saw 
here, however, an old woman, who, besides the common tattooing 
of the face, was tattooed on the shoulders, and another, who, 
on the outside of the hands, had two parallel lines running 
along the hand and an oblique line connecting them. The 
men were not tattooed. Two of them carried crosses, with 
Slavonic inscriptions, at the neck, others carried in the same 
way forked pieces of wood. Whether these latter are to be 
considered as their gods or as amulets I know not. 

" As we could not obtain here the reindeer that we wished 
to purchase on account of the expedition, we betook ourselves 
with our dogs on the afternoon of the same day along with 
Menka to his son-in-law's encampment, which we reached at 
8 o'clock in the evening. We were received in a very friendly 
way, and remained here over night. All the inhabitants of the 
tent sleep together in the bedchamber of it, which is not 
more than 2 to 2*4 metres long, 1"8 to 2 metres broad, and 1'2 
to 1"5 metres high. Before they lie down they take supper. 
Men and women wear during the night only a cingtchom jpudi- 
citim, about fifteen centimetres broad, and are otherwise com- 
pletely naked. In the morning the housewife rose first and 
boiled a little flesh, which^ was then served in the bedchamber, 
before its inmates had put on their clothes. She cut the meat 
in slices in a tray, and distributed them afterwards. In the 
morning we saAv the Chukches catch and slaughter their reindeer. 
Two men go into the herd, and when they have got sight of a 
reindeer which they wish to have, they cast, at a distance of 
nine or ten metres, a running noose over the animal's horns. 
It no-w throws itself backwards and forwards in its attempts to 
escape, and drags after it for some moments the man who holds 
the noose. The other man in the meantime endeavours to 
approach the reindeer, catches the animal by the horns and 
throws it to the ground, killing it afterwards by a knife-stab 
behind the shoulder. The reindeer is then handed over to the 



X.] , WE RETUEN TO THE VEGA, 377 

women, who, by an incision in the side of the belly, take out 
the entrails. The stomach is emptied of its contents, and is 
then used to hold the blood. Finally the skin is taken off. 

" About 10 o'clock a.m. we commenced our homeward journey. 
At nightfall we sought to have a roof over our head in a 
wretched Chukch tent on the shore of Lake Utschunutsch. It 
was partly sunk in one of the small mounds which are found 
here along the shore, and which are probably the remains of 
old Onkilon dwellings. The present inhabitants, two old men 
and an old woman, had their habitation arranged in the follow- 
ing way : — In the bottom of a cylindrical pit, one metre deep 
and three and a half to four and a half metres in diameter,- a 
vertical pole was erected, against the upper end of which rested 
a number of obliquely placed bars, rising from the edge of the 
pit, which were covered with skins. The enclosure or bed- 
chamber, peculiar to the Chukch tent, was not wanting here. 
Otherwise the whole dwelling bore the stamp of poverty and 
dirt. The food of the inmates appeared to be fish. Of this, 
besides the fish we obtained here, the nets hanging in front of 
the tent afforded evidence. Some clothes, an iron pot, two 
wooden vessels, and a Shaman drum were the only things I 
could discover in the tent. 

"Next morning we continued our journey. On the other 
side of Lake Utschunutsch we saw two dwellings, which 
only consisted of boats turned upside down with some hides 
drawn over them. The rest of the way we came past Najtskaj 
and through Irgunnuk, where we were received in an exceed- 
ingly friendly fashion. By 7 o'clock in the evening of the 11th 
October we were again on board the Vega." 

From Lieutenant Hovgaard's report^ which principally relates 
to the topography of the region passed through, we make the 
following extract relating to the endurance which the Chukches 
and their dogs showed : — ■ 

" During our outward journey, which lasted twenty-one and a 
half hours, Menka's attendant, the before-mentioned reindeer 
owner, whom we at first took to be Menka's slave or servant, 
ran without interruption before the sledges, and even when' we 
rested he was actively searching for the track, looking after the 
dogs, &c. When we came to the camp he did not sleep, and, 
notwithstanding, was as fresh during the following day's journey. 
During the time he got no spirituous liquor, by express order of 
Menka, who said that if he did he would not be able to continue 
to run. Instead he chewed a surprising quantity of tobacco. 
The dogs, during the whole time, were not an instant unyoked ; 
in the mornings they lay half snowed iip, and slept in front of 
the sledges. We never saw the Chukches give them any food : 



378 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cuAr. 

the only food they got was the frozen excrements of the fox and 
other animals, which they themselves snapped up in passing. 
Yet even on the last day no diminution in their power of 
draught was observable." 

Nordquist brought with him, among other things, two rein- 
deer, bought for, a rouble and a half each.- They were still 
very serviceable, though badly slaughtered. But the reindeer 
we purchased farther on in the winter were so poor that no one 
on board could persuade himself to eat them. 

On the 18th October, by which time we believed that Menka 
would be already at Markova, we were again visited by him and 
his son-in-law. He said he had no akmimil (fire-water) to keep 
holiday with, and now came to us to exchange three slaughtered 
reindeer for it. Our miscalculation with respect to the letters, 
which we hoped were long ago on their way to their destination, 
and my dislike to the mode of payment in question — I offered 
him, without success, half-imperials and metal rouble pieces 
instead of brandy — made his reception on this occasion less 
hearty, and he therefore left us soon. It was not until the 
9th February, 1879, that we again got news from Menka by one 
of the Chukches, who had attended him the time before. • The 
Chukch said that in ten days he had traversed the way between 
the Vega's winter haven and Markova, which would run to 
about ninety kilometres a day. According to his statement 
Menka had travelled with the letters to Yakutsk. The statement 
seemed very suspicious, and appeared afterwards to have 
been partly fabricated, or perhaps to have been misunderstood 
by us. But after our return to the world of newspapers we 
found that Menka had actually executed his commission. He, 
however, did not reach Anadyrsk until the la'^^^t^^uary - Thence 
the packet was sent to Irkutsk, arriving there on the i^nr^Jii- The 
news reached Sweden by telegraph six days after, on the 16th 
May, just at a time when concern for the fate of the Vega was 
beginning to be very great, and the question of relief expeditions 
was seriously entertained.^ 

In order to relieve the apprehensions of our friends at home, 
it was, however, exceedingly important to give them some 
accounts of the position of the Vega during winter, and I 
therefore offered all the purchasing power which the treasures 
of guns, powder, ball, food, fine shirts, and even spirits, collected 
on board, could exert, in order to induce some natives to convey 
Lieutenants Nordquist and Bove to Markova or Nischni 
Kolymsk. The negotiations seemed at first to go on very well, 

^ The King of Sweden lias since ordered a gold medal to be given to 
Wassili Menka in recognition of the fidelity with which he executed the 
commission of carrying our letters to a Russian post station. 



X.]. NORDQUIST'S VISIT TO PIDLIN. 379 

an advance was demanded and given, but when the journey 
should have commenced the Chukches always refused to start 
on some pretext or other — now it was too cold, now too dark, 
now there was no food for the dogs. The negotiations had thus 
no other result than to make us acquainted with one of the 
few less agreeable sides of the Chukches' disposition, namely 
the complete untrust worthiness of these otherwise excellent 
savages, and their peculiar idea of the binding force of an 
agreement. 

The plans of travel just mentioned, however, led to Lieu- 
tenant Nordquist making an excursion with dog-sledges in order 
to be even with one of the natives, who had received an advance 
for driving him to Markova, but had not kept his promise. 
Of this journey Lieutenant Nordquist gives the following 
account : — 

" On the 5th December, at 7.50 A.M., I started with a dog- 
sledge for the village Pidlin, lying on Kolyutschin Bay. I was 
driven by the Chukch Auango from Irgunnuk. He had a small, 
light sledge, provided with runners of whalebone, drawn by six 
dogs, of which the leader was harnessed before the other five, 
which were fastened abreast in front of the sledge, each with its 
draught belt. The dogs were weak and ill managed, and there- 
fore went so slowly that I cannot estimate their speed at more 
than two or three English miles an hour. As the journey both 
thither and back lasted eight to nine hours, the distance between 
Pitlekaj and Pidlin may be about twenty-five English miles. 

" Pidlin and Kolyutschin Island are the only inhabited places 
on Kolyutschin Bay. At the former place there are four tents, 
pitched on the eastern shore of the bay, the number of the 
inhabitants being a little over twenty persons. I was received 
in front of the tents by the population of the village and 
carried to the tent, which was inhabited by Chepcho, who now 
promised to go with me in February to Anadyrsk. My host 
had a wife and three children. At night the children were 
completely undressed ; the adults had short trousers on, the 
man of tanned skin, the woman of cloth. In the oppressive 
heat, which was kept up by two train-oil lamps burning the 
whole night, it was difiicult to sleep even in the heavy reindeer- 
skin dresses. Yet they covered themselves with reindeer skins. 
Besides the heat there was a fearful stench — the Chukches 
obeyed the calls of nature within the bedchamber — which I 
could not stand without going out twice to get fresh air. When 
we got up next morning our hostess served breakfast in a flat 
tray, containing first seals' flesh and fat, with a sort of sour- 
krout of fermented willow-leaves, then seals' liver, and finally 
seals' blood — all frozen. 



380 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

"Among objects of etlmograpliical interest I saw, besides the 
Shaman drum which was found in every tent, and was not 
regarded with the superstitioiis dread which I have often 
observed elsewhere, a bundle of amulets fastened with a small 
thong, a wolf's skull, which was also hung up by a thong, the 
skin together with the whole cartilaginous portion of a wolfs 
nose and a flat stone. The amulets consisted- of wooden forks, 
four to five centimetres long, of the sort which we often see the 
Chukches wear on the breast. My host said that such an 
amulet worn round the neck was a powerful means of pre- _ 
venting disease. The wolfs skull which I had already got, he 
took back, because his four- or five-year-old son would need it 
in making choice of a wife. What part it played in '-this I did 
not however ascertain. 

" While my driver harnessed the dogs for the journey home, 
I had an opportunity of seeing some little girls dance, which 
they did in the same way as that in which I had seen girls 
dance at Pitlekaj and Yinretlen. Two girls then place them- 
selves either right opposite to or alongside of each other. In the 
former case they often lay their hands on each other's shoulders, 
bend by turns to either side, sometimes leap with the feet held 
together and wheel round, while they sing or rather grunt 
the measure. 

"The journey home was commenced at eight o'clock in the 
morning. In the course of it my driver sang Chukch songs. 
These are often only imitations of the cries of animals or 
improvisations without any distinct metre or rhythm, and very 
little variation in the notes ; only twice I thought I could dis- 
tinguish a distinct melody. In the afternoon my driver told 
me the Chukch names of several stars. At five o'clock in the 
afternoon I reached the Vega." 

On the 10th October, the new ice at many places in the neigh- 
bourhood of the vessel was still so weak that it was impossible to 
walk upon it, and blue water-skies at the horizon indicated, that 
there were still considerable stretches of open water in the neigh- 
bourhood. But the drift-ice round about us lay so rock-fast, that 
I could already take solar altitudes from the deck of the vessel 
with a mercurial horizon. In order to ascertain the actual state 
of the case with reference to the open water, excursions were 
undertaken on the 13th October, in different directions. Dr. 
Kjellman could then, from the rocky promontory at Yinretlen, 
forty-two metres high, see large open spaces in the sea to the 
northward. Dr. Almquist went right out over the ice, following 
the track of Chukches, who had gone to catch seals. He 
travelled about twenty kilometres over closely packed drift-ice 
fields, without reaching open water, and found the newly frozen 



X.] A DEAD MAN ON THE TUNDRA. 381 

ice, with which the pieces of drift-ice were bound together, still 
everywhere unbroken. The Chukches, who visited the vessel 
in dog-sledges on the 28th October, informed us, however, that 
the sea a little to the east of us was still completely open. 

On the 15th October the hunter Johnsen returned from a 
hunting expedition quite terrified. He informed us that during 
his wanderings on the tundra, he had found a murdered man and 
brought with him, with the idea that, away here in the land of 
the Chukches, similar steps ought to be taken as in those lands 
which are blessed by a well-ordered judiciary, as species faeti, 
some implements lying beside the dead man, among which 
was a very beautiful lance, on whose blade traces of having been 
inlaid in gold could still be discovered. Fortunately he had 
come with these things through the Chukch camp unobserved. 
From the description which was given me, however, I was able 
immediately to come to the conclusion that the question here 
was not of any murder, but of a dead man laid out on the 
tundra. I requested Dr. Almquist to visit the place, in order 
that he might make a more detailed examination. He con- 
firmed my conjecture. As wolves, foxes, and ravens had already 
torn the corpse to pieces, the doctor considered that he, too, 
might take his share, and therefore brought home with him 
from his excursion, an object carefully wrapped up and concealed 
among the hunting equipment, namely, the Chukch's head. It 
was immediately sunk to the sea-bottom, where it remained for 
a couple of weeks to be skeletonised by the Crustacea swarming 
there, and it now has its number in the collections brought 
home by the Vega. This sacrilege was never detected by the 
Chukches, and probably the wolves got the blame of it, as 
nearly every spring it was seen that the corpse, which had been 
laid out during autumn, lost its head during winter. It was, 
perhaps, more difficult to explain the disappearance of the 
lance, but of this, too, the maws of the wolves might well bear 
the blame. 

Our hunters now made hunting excursions in different 
directions, but the supply of game was scanty. The openings 
in the ice probably swarmed with seals, but they were too dis- 
tant, and without a boat it was impossible to carry on any 
hunting there. Not a single Polar bear now appeared to be 
visible in the neighbourhood, although bears' skulls are found at 
several places on the beach, and this animal appears to play a 
great part in the imagination of the natives, to judge of the 
many figures of bears among the bone carvings I purchased 
from the Chukches. The natives often have a small strip of 
bear's skin on the seat of their sledges, but I have not seen any 
whole bear's skin here ; perhaps the animal is being extermin- 
ated on the north coast of Siberia. Our wintering, therefore. 



382 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



will not enricli Arctic literature with any new bear stories — 
a very sensible difficulty for the writer himself. Wolves, on the 
other hand, occur on the tundra in sufficient abundance, even if 
one or other of the wolves found in mist and drifting snow, 
and saluted with shot, turned out, on a critical determination of 
species, to be our own dogs. At least, this was the case with the 
" wolf," that inveigled one of the crew into shooting a ball one 
dark night right through the thermometer case, fortunately 
without injuring the instruments, and with no other result than 
that he had afterwards to bear an endless number of jokes from 






.;J 



-:=t| 







CHDKCH BONE-CARVINGS. 

(The two largest figures represent bears.) 



his comrades on account of his wolf-hunt. Foxes, white, red 
and black, also occurred here in great numbers, but they were 
at that season difficult to get at, and besides they had perhaps 
withdrawn from the coast. Hares, on the other hand, maintained 
themselves during the whole winter at Yinretlen, by day partly 
out on the ice partly on the cape, by night in the neighbourhood 
of the tents. Sweepings and offal from the proceeds of the 
chase had there produced a vegetation, which, though concealed 
by snow, yielded to the hares in winter a more abundant supply 



X.] 



FLOCKS OF BIEDS OBSERVED. 



383 



of food than the barren tundra. It was remarkable that the 
hares were allowed to live between the tents and in their neigh- 
bourhood without being disturbed by the score of lean and 
hungry dogs belonging to the village. When farther into the 
winter for the sake of facilitating the hare-hunting I had a hut 
erected for Johnson the hunter, he chose as the place for it 
the immediate neighbourhood of the village, declaring that the 
richest hunting-ground in the whole neighbourhood was just 
there. The shooters stated that part of the hares became 
snow-blind in spring. The hares here are larger than with us, 
and have exceedingly delicious flesh. 




HARES FROM CHUKCH LAND. 



On our arrival most of the birds had already left these 
regions, so inhospitable in winter, or were seen high up in the 
air in collected flocks, flying towards the south entrance of 
Behring's Straits. Still on the 19th October an endless pro- 
cession of birds was seen drawing towards this region, but by 
the 3rd November it was noted, as something uncommon, that 
a gull settled on the refuse heaps in the neighbourhood of the 
vessel. It resembled the ivory gull, but had a black head. 
Perhaps it was the rare Lams Sahinii, of which a drawing has 
been given above.' All the birds which passed us came from 
the north-west, that is, from the north coast of Siberia, the 
New Siberian Islands or Wrangel Land. Only the mountain 

1 See p. 93. 



384 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap 

owl, a species of raven and the ptarmigan wintered in the 
region, the last named being occasionally snowed up. 

The ptarmigan here is not indeed so plump and good as the 
Spitzbergen ptarmigan during winter, but in any case provided 
us with an always welcome, if scanty change from the tu'esome 
preserved meat. When some ptarmigan Avere shot, they were 
therefore willingly saved up by the cook, along with the hares, 
for festivals. For in order to break the monotony on board an 
opportunity was seldom neglected that offered itself for holding- 
festivities. Away there on the coast of the Chukch peninsula 
there were thus celebrated with great conscientiousness during 
the winter of 1878-9, not only our own birthdays but also those 
of King Oscar, King Christian and King Humbert, and of the 
Emperor Alexander. Every day a newspaper was distributed, 
for the day indeed, but for a past year. In addition we numbered 
among our diversions constant intercourse with the natives, and 
frequent visits to the neighbouring villages, driving in dog- 
sledges, a sport which would have been very enjoyable if the 
dogs of the natives had not been so exceedingly jDoor and bad, 
and finally industrious reading and zealous studies, for which I 
had provided the expedition with an extensive library, intended 
both for the scientific men and officers, and for the crew, 
numbering with the private stock of books nearly a thousand 
volumes. 

All this time of course the purely scientific work was not 
neglected. In the first rank among these stood the meteoro- 
logical and magnetical observations, which from the 1st November 
were made on land every hour. However fast the ice lay 
around the vessel it was impossible to get on it a sufiiciently 
stable base for the magnetical variation instrument. The 
magnetical observatory was therefore erected on land of the 
finest building material any architect has had at his disposal, 
namely, large parallelepipeds of beautiful blue-coloured ice- 
blocks. The building was therefore called by the Chukches 
Tintinyaranga (the ice-hoiise), a name which was soon adopted 
by the Ve,ga men too. As mortar the builder, Palander, used 
snow mixed with water, and the whole . was covered with a 
roof of boards. But as after a time it appeared that the storm 
made its way through the joints and that these were gradually 
growing larger in consequence of the evaporation of the ice 
so that the drifting snow could find an entrance, the whole 
house had a sail drawn over it. As supports of the three 
variation instruments large blocks of wood were used, whose 
lower ends were sunk in pits, which, with great trouble, were 
excavated in the frozen ground, and then, when the block 
supports were placed, were filled with sand mixed with water. 
The ice-house was a spacious observatory, well-fitted for its 



FIRING WITH OIL ABANDONED. 



385 



purpose in every respect. It had but one defect, the tempera- 
ture was always at an uncomfortably low point. As no iron 
could be used in the building, and we had no copper-stove with 
us, we could not have any fireplace there. We endeavoured, 
indeed, to use a copper fireplace, that had been intended for 
sledge journeys, for heating, but only with the result that the 
observatory was like to have gone to pieces. We succeeded 
little better when we discovered farther on in the winter, while 
trimming the hold, a forgotten cask of bear's oil. We con- 
sidered this find a clear indication that instead of a stove fired 
with wood we should, according to the custom of the Polar 
races, use oil-lamps to mitigate the severe cold which deprived 






THE OBSERVATORY AT PITLEKAJ. 

(After a dra-wing by O. Noidquist.) 



our stay in Tintinyaranga of part of its pleasure. But this mode 
of firing proved altogether impracticable. The fumes of the 
oil smelled worse than those of the charcoal, and the result of 
this experiment was none other than that the splendid crystals 
of ice, with which the roof and walls of the ice-house were 
gradually clothed, were covered with black soot. Firing with 
oil was abandoned, and the oil presented to our friends at 
Yinretlen, who just then were complaining loudly that they 
had no other fuel than wood. 

Besides the nine scientific men and officers of the Vega, the 

,C C 



386 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

engineer Nordstrom and the seaman Lundgren took part in the 
magnetical and meteorological observations. Every one had his 
watch of six hours, five of which were commonly passed in the 
ice-house. To walk from the vessel to the observatory, distant 
a kilometre and a half, with the temperature under the freezing 
point of mercury, or, what was much worse, during storm, with 
the temperature at — 36°, remain in the observatory for five 
hours in a temperature of —17°, and then return to the vessel, 
commonly against the wind — for it came nearly always from the 
north or north-west — was dismal enough. None of us, however, 
suffered any harm from it. On the contrary, it struck me as 
if this compulsory interruption to our monotonous life on board 
and the long-continued stay in the open air had a refreshing 
influence both on body and soul. 

In the neighbourhood of the ice-house the thermometer case 
was erected, and farther on in the winter there were built in the 
surrounding snowdrifts, two other observatories, not however 
of ice, but of snow, in the Greenland snow-building style. Our 
depot of provisions was also placed in the neighbourhood, and 
at a sufficient distance from the magnetical observatory there 
was a large wooden chest, in which the Eemington guns, which 
were carried for safety in excursions from the vessel, and other 
iron articles which the observer had with him, were placed before 
he entered the observatory. 

The building of Tintinyaranga was followed by the Chukches 
with great interest. When they saw that we did not intend 
to live there, but that rare, glancing metal instruments were 
set up in it, and that a wonderfully abundant flood of light in 
comparison with their tent illumination was constantly main- 
tained inside with a kind of light quite unknown to them 
(stearine candles and photogen lamps) a curious uneasiness 
began to prevail among them, which we could not quiet with 
the language of signs mixed with a Chukch word or two, to 
which our communications with the natives were at that time 
confined. Even farther on in the year, when an eflicient though 
word-poor international language had gradually been formed 
between us, they made inquiries on this point, yet with consider- 
able indifference. All sensible people among them had evidently 
already come to the conclusion that it was profitless trouble 
to seek a reasonable explanation of all the follies which the 
strange foreigners, richly provided with many earthly gifts but 
by no means with practical sense, perpetrated. In any case' 
it was with a certain amazement and awe that they, when they 
exce]3tionally obtained permission, entered one by one through 
the doors in order to see the lamps burn and to peep into 
the tubes. Many times even a dog-team that had come a long 
way stopped for a few moments at the ice-house to satisfy the 



X.] LIFE OX BOARD DURING THE WINTER. 387 

owner's curiosity, and on two occasions in very bad drifting 
weather we were compelled to give shelter to a wanderer who 
had gone astray. 

When this ice-house was ready and hourly observations began 
in it, life on board took the stamp which it afterwards retained 
in the course of the winter. In order to give the reader an idea 
of our e very-day life, I shall reproduce here the spirited sketch 
of a day on the Vega, which Dr. Kjellman gave in one of his 
home letters : — 

" It is about half-past eight in the morning. He whose watch 
has expired has returned after five hours' stay in the ice-house, 
where the temperature during the night has been about - 16°. 
His account of the weather is good enough. There are only 
thirty-two degrees of cold, it is half-clear, and, to be out of the 
ordinary, there is no wind. Breakfast is over. Cigars, cigarettes, 
and pipes are lighted, and the gunroom personnel go up on deck 
for a little exercise and fresh air, for below it is confined and 
close. The eye rests on the desolate, still faintly-lighted land- 
scape, which is exactly the same as it was yesterday ; a white 
plain in all directions, across which a low, likewise white, chain 
of hillocks or torosses here and there raises itself, and over which 
some ravens, with feeble wing-strokes, fly forAvard, searching for 
something to support life with. ' Metschinko Orpist,' ' mets- 
chinko Okerpist,' * metschinko Kellman,' &c., now sounds every- 
where on the vessel and from the ice in its neighbourhood. 
' Orpist ' represents Nordquist, ' Okerpist ' again Stuxberg. It is 
the Chukches' morning salutation to us. To-day the com- 
paratively fine weather has drawn out a larger crowd than usual, 
thirty to forty human beings, from tender sucking babes to grey 
old folks, men as well as women; the latter 'in the word of 
salutation replacing the tsch-sound with an exceedingly soft 
caressing fe-sound. That most of them have come driving is 
shown by the equipages standing in the neighbourhood of the 
vessel. They consist of small, low, narrow, light sledges, drawn 
by four to ten or twelve dogs. The sledges are made of small 
pieces of wood and bits of reindeer-horn, held together by seal- 
skin straps. As runner-shoes thin plates of the ribs of the 
whale are used. The dogs, sharp-nosed, long-backed, and exces- 
sively dirty, have laid themselves to rest, curled together in 
the snow. 

"The salutation is followed almost immediately to-day as 
on preceding days by some other words : ' Ouinga mouri kauka,' 
which may be translated thus: 'I am so hungry; I have no 
food ; give me a little bread ! ' They suffer hunger now, the 
poor beings. Seal flesh, their main food, they cannot with the 
best will procure for the time. The only food they can get 

c q 2 



383 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. x. 

consists of fish (two kinds of cod), but this is quite too poor diet 
for them, they have fallen off since we first met with them. 
' " Soon we are all surrounded by our Chukch acquaintances. 
The daily market begins. They have various things to offer, 
which they know to be of value to us, as weapons, furs, ornaments, 
playthings, fish, bones of the whale, algae, vegetables, &c. For 
all this only ' kauka ' is now asked. To-day the supply of 
whales' bones is large, in consequence of our desire, expressed 
on previous days, to obtain them. One has come with two 
vertebrae, one with a rib or some fragments of it, one with 
a shoulder-blade. They are not shy in laying heavy loads on 
their dogs. 

" After the close of the promenade and the traffic with the 
natives, the gunroom -personnel have begun their labours. Some 
keep in their cabins, others in the gunroom itself. The magnetical 
and meteorological observations made the day before are tran- 
scribed and subjected to a preliminary working-out, the natural 
history collections are examined and looked over, studies and 
authorship are prosecuted. The work is now and then inter- 
rupted by conversation partly serious, partly jocular. From the 
engine-room in the neighbourhood we hear the blows of ham- 
mers and the rasping of files. In the 'tweendecks, pretty well 
heated, but not very well lighted, some of the crew are employed 
at ordinary ship's work ; and in the region of the kitchen the 
cook is just in the midst of his preparations for dinner. He 
is in good humour as usual, but perhaps grumbles a little at the 
'mosucks' (a common name on board for the Chukches), who will 
not give him any peace by their continual cries for 'mimil ' (water). 

" The forenoon passes in all quietness and stillness. Immediately 
after noon nearly all the gunroom people are again on deck, 
promenading backwards and forwards. It is now very lively. 
It is the crew's meal-time. The whole crowd of Chukches are 
collected at the descent to their apartment, the lower deck. 
One soup basin after the other comes up ; they are immediately 
emptied of their contents by those who in the crowd and 
confusion are fortunate enough to get at them. Bread and 
pieces of meat and bits of sugar are distributed assiduously, 
and disappear with equal speed. Finally, the cook himself 
appears with a large kettle, containing a very large quantity 
of meat soup, which the Chukches like starving animals throw 
themselves upon, baling into them with spoons, empty pre- 
serve tins, and above all with the hands. Notwithstanding 
the exceedingly severe cold a woman here and there has un- 
covered one arm and half her breast in order not to be embarrassed 
by the wide reindeer-skin sleeve in her attempts to get at 
the contents of the kettle. The spectacle is by no means a 
pleasant one. 




i s 



390 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

" By three o'clock it begins to grow dark, and one after the 
other of our guests depart, to return, the most of them, in the 
morning. Now it is quiet and still. About six the crew have 
finished their labours and dispose of the rest of the day as they 
please. Most of them are occupied with reading during the 
evening hours. When supper has been served at half-past seven 
in the gunroom, he who has the watch in the ice-house from 
nine to two next morning prepares for the performance of his 
disagreeable duty; the rest of the gunroom personnel are 
assembled there, and pass the evening in conversation, play, 
light reading, &c. At ten every one retires, and the lamps are 
extinguished. In many cabins, however, lights burn till after 
midnight. 

" Such was in general our life on the Vega. One day was very 
like another. When the storm howled, the snow drifted, and the 
cold became too severe, we kept more below deck; when the 
weather was finer we lived more in the open air, often paying 
visits to the observatory in the icehouse, and among the Chukches 
living in the neighbourhood, or wandering about to come upon, 
if possible, some game." 

The snow which fell during winter consisted more generally 
of small simple snow-crystals or ice-needles, than of the 
beautiful snow-flakes whose grand kaleidoscopic forms the 
inhabitants of the north so often have an opportunity of 
admiring. Already with a gentle wind and. with a pretty clear 
atmosphere the lower strata of the atmosphere were full of these 
regular ice-needles, which refracted the rays of the sun, so as to 
produce parhelia and halos. Unfortunately however these were 
never so completely developed as the halos which I saw in 1873 
during the sledge-journey round North-east Land on Spitzbergen ; 
bat I believed that even now I could confirm the correctness of 
the observation I then made, that the representation which is 
generally given of this beautiful phenomenon, in which the halo 
is delineated as a collection of regular circles, is not correct, 
bat that it forms a very involved system of lines, extended 
over the whole vault of heaven, for the most part coloured on 
the sun-side and uncoloured on the opposite side, of the sort 
shown in the accompanying drawings taken from the account of 
the Spitzbergen Expedition of 1872-73. 

Another very beautiful phenomenon, produced by the refrac- 
tion of the solar rays by the ice-needles, which during winter 
were constantly mixed with the atmospheric strata lying 
nearest the surface of the earth, was that the mountain 
heights to the south of the Vega in a certain light api3eared 
as if feathered with fire-clouds. In clear sunshine and a high 
wind we frequently saw, as it were, a glowing pillar of vapour 



X.] 



OPENINGS IN THE ICE. 



391 



arise obliquely from the summits of the mountains, giving them 
the appearance of volcanos, which throw out enormous columns 
of smoke, flame-coloured by the reflection from the glowing 
lava streams in the dej)ths of the crater. 

A blue water- sky was still visible out to sea, indicating that 
open water was to be found there. I therefore sent Johnsen the 
hunter over the ice on the 18th December to see how it was. 
In three-quarters of an hour's walking from the vessel he found 
an extensive opening, recently covered with thin, blue, newly 
frozen ice. A fresh northerly breeze blew at the time, and by it 
the drift-ice fields were forced together with such speed, that 




REFRACTION-HALO. 

Seen on Spitzbeigen in Maj' lb73, sinmitaneously with tlie Refleution-halo delineated on the 

following page. 



Johnsen supposed that in a couple of hours the whole lead 
would be completely closed. 

In such openings in Greenland white whales and other small 
whales are often enclosed by hundreds, the natives thus having 
an opportunity of making in a few. hours a catch which would 
be sufficient for their support during the whole winter, indeed 
for years, if the idea of saving ever entered into the imagination 
»)f the savage. But here in a region where the pursuit of the 
whale is more productive than in any other sea, no such occur- 
rence has happened. During the whole of our stay on the coast 
of the Chukch country we did not see a single whale. On the 



'392 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAP. 



other hand, masses of whales' bones were found thrown up on 
the beach. At first I did not bestow much attention upon 
them, thinking they were the bones of whales that had been 
killed during ''the recent whale -fishing period. I soon found 
however that this could not have been the case. For the bones 
had evidently been washed out of the sandy dune running along 
the beach, which had been deposited at a time when the present 
coast lay ten to twenty metres below the surface of the sea, 
thus hundreds or thousands of years ago, undoubtedly before the 
time when the north coast of Asia was first inhabited by man. 
The dune sand is, as recently exposed profiles show, quite free 
from other kitchen-midden remains than those which occur 




REFLECTION-HALO. 

Seen slmu.taneously with the Refraction-halo delineated on the preceding page, in the part 
of the sky opposite the sun. 

upon its surface. The whales' bones in question were thus 
suhfossil. Their number was so great, that in the systematic 
examination of the beach in the immediate neighbourhood of 
the vessel, which I undertook during spring with the assistance 
of Dr. Kjellman and half ^ dozen of the sailors, thirty neck- 
bones and innumerable other bones of the whale were found in 
a stretch of from four to five kilometres. Of course masses of 
bones are still concealed in the sand ; and a large number of 
lower jaw-bones, ribs, shoulder-blades, and vertebrae had been 
used for runner-shoes, tent-frames, spades, picks and other 
implements. A portion, after being exposed for several years to 



X.] - CHRISTMAS, 1878. 393 

the action of the air, had undergone decay. The bones are there- 
fore found in greatest number at those places where the sand of 
the dune has been recently carried away by the spring floods or 
by the furious winds which prevail here, and which easily gain 
the ascendency over the dry sand, bound together only by 
widely scattered Elymus-stalks. The largest crania belonged to 
a species nearly allied to the Balcena mysHcetus. Crania of a 
species of Rachianectes are also found along with some bones of 
smaller varieties of the whale. No complete skeleton however 
has been found, but we brought home with us so large a quantity 
of the loose bones that the collection of whales' bones alone 
would have formed a full cargo for a small vessel. These bones 
will be delineated and described by Professor. A. W. Malm in 
The Scientific Work of the Vega Expedition. Special attention 
was drawn to a skeleton, belonging to the Balcena mysticetus, by 
its being still partially covered with skin, and by deep red, 
almost fresh, flesh adhering to those parts of it which were 
frozen fast in the ground. This skeleton lay at a place where 
the dune sand had recently been washed away and the coarse 




SECTION OF IHE BEACH STRATA AT PITLEKAJ. 

1. Hard frozen coarse sand. 2. The sea. 3. Beach of fine dry sand with masses of bones of the 
whale. 4. Coast-lagoon. 

underlying sand uncovered, the whsde-mumvi'y also I suppose 
coming to light at the same time. That the whale in question 
had not stranded in the memory of man the Chukches assured 
me unanimously. In such a case we have here a proof that 
even portions of the flesh of gigantic sea-animals have been 
protected against putrefaction in the frozen soil of Siberia — a 
parallel to the rasivanioth-onummies, though from a considerably 
more recent period. 

Christmas Eve was celebrated in the usual northern fashion. 
We had indeed neglected, as in the Expedition of 1872-73, to 
take with us any Christmas tree. But instead of it Dr. Kj oilman 
prevailed on our Chukch friends to bring with dog-sledges 
willow-bushes from the valleys lying beyond the mountains to 
the south. By means of these a bare driftwood stem was 
converted into a luxuriant, branchy tree which, to replace the 
verdure, was clothed with variegated stri]3S of paper, and planted 
in the 'tweendecks, which after our enclosure in the ice had 
been arranged as a working room, and was now set in order for 



CHAP. XI.] HOPE OF RELEASE. 395 

the Christmas festivities, and richly and tastefully ornamented 
with flags. A large number of small wax-lights, which we had 
brought with us for the special purpose, were fixed in the 
Christmas tree, together with about two hundred Christmas 
boxes purchased or presented to us before our departure. At 
six o'clock in the afternoon all the officers and crew assembled 
in the 'tweendecks, and the drawing of lots began, now and then 
interrupted by a thundering polka round the peculiar Christmas 
tree. At supper neither Christmas ale nor ham was wanting. 
And later in the evening there made their appearance in the 
'tweendecks five punchbowls, which were emptied with songs 
and toasts for King and Fatherland, for the objects of the 
Expedition, for its officers and men, for the families at home, for 
relatives and friends, and finally for those who decked and 
arranged the Christmas tree, who were the sailors C. Lundgren 
and O. Hansson, and the firemen 0. Ingelsson and C. Carlstrom. 
The other festivals were also celebrated in the best way, and 
at midnight before New Year's Day the new year was shot in 
with sharp explosive-shell firing from the rifled cannon of the 
Vega, and a number of rockets thrown up from the deck. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Hope of release at the new year — Bove's excursion to the open water — 
Mild weather and renewed severe cold — Mercury frozen — Popular 
lectures — Brusewitz' s excursion to Najtskaj — Another despatch of letters 
home — The natives' accounts of the state of the ice on the coast of 
Chukch Land — The Chukches carry on traffic between Arctic America 
and Siberia — Excursions in the neighbourhood of winter quarters — The 
weather during spring — The melting of the snow — The aurora — The 
arrival of the migratory birds — The animal world of Chukch Land 
— Noah Elisej's relief expedition — A remarkable fish — The country 
clear of snow — Release — The North-East Passage achieved. 

The new year came in with a faint hope of release. For since 
the north and north-west winds that had prevailed almost con- 
stantly towards the close of December had given place to winds 
from the east and south, considerable " clearings " were again 
formed out at sea, and the Chukches again began to say that 
the ice would drift away, so that the vessel would be able 
to continue .her voyage; a prediction which they always ended 
with a declaration, expressed both by words and gestures, that 
they would then bitterly lament, which they would also have 
had sufficient reason to do, considering the very friendly way in 
which they were treated by all on board the Vega, both officers 
and men. 



396 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

On New Year's Day, in order to see the state of the ice farther 
out to sea, Lieut. Bove, accompanied by the hunter Johnson, 
again made an excursion to the open water. Of this he gave 
the following account : — 

" I left the vessel on the forenoon of 1st January and reached 
the open water after four hours' steady walking. The deep 
loose snow made walking very fatiguing, and three rows of 
torosses also contributed to this, mainly in consequence of the 
often snow-covered cracks,, which crossed the ice-sheet in their 
neighbourhood. One of the torosses was ten metres high. The 
size of the blocks of ice, which were here heaped on each other, 
showed how powerful the forces were which had caused the 
formation of the torosses. These ice ramparts now afford a 
much needed protection to the Vegas winter haven. About 
halfway between the open water and the vessel the' way was 
crossed by cracks running from east to west, and clearly indi- 
cating that the opening in the ice would have extended to the 
distance of a kilometre from the vessel, if the violent storm in 
December had lasted twelve hours longer. The Vega would 
thereby have been in great danger. The edge of the ice towards 
the open water was evenly cut, as with an immense knife, and 
was so strong that one could walk along it as on a rock. Even 
from the top of a five-metre-high ice-rampart no boundary of 
the open water could be seen to the north-east or north. Partly 
from this, partly from the extension of the water- sky in this 
direction, I draw the conclusion that the breadth of the open 
water was at least thirty-five kilometres. The " clearing " was 
bounded on the east by an ice-rampart running north, which at 
a distance of nine or ten kilometres appeared to bend to the 
east. Possibly farther to the east beyond this ice-rampart there 
was another open water basin. The depth at the edge of the 
ice was twenty-one metres, the temperature of the water 2° C. 
The water ran at a considerable speed right out from the 
coast (i.e. from S.S.E.). As it ran here nearly in a straight 
line, the current may have been a tidal one. The open 
water swarmed with seals, according^ to Johnson both bearded 
and rough. Neither Polar bears, walrusses, nor birds were 
seen." 

Lieut. Bove's report confirmed me in my supposition that the 
open water, as towards the end of January 1873 at Mussel Bay, 
might possibly extend as far as our anchorage and open for us 
the way to Behring's Straits, in which case we could not refrain 
from continuing our voyage, however unpleasant and dangerous 
it might be at this season of the year. The Chukches also 
declared repeatedly that the open water in January would 



XI.] 



BOVE'S EXCURSION TO THE OPEN WATER. 



397 



continue for a considerable time, and in expectation of this got 
their simple fishing implements ready. But both they and we 
Avere disappointed in our expectation. The Vega's ice-fetters 
remained undisturbed, and the blue border at the horizon grew 
less and again disappeared. This caused so great a want of 
food, and above all of train oil, among the natives, that all the 
inhabitants of Pitlekaj, the village nearest to us, were compelled 
to remove to the eastward, notwithstanding that in order to 
mitigate the scarcity a considerable quantity of food was served 
out daily at the vessel. 

It appears, however, as if an actual experience from the pre- 
ceding year had been the ground of the Chukches' weather 





THE OPEN WATIE. 



prediction. For on the 6th February a south-east wind began 
to blow, and the severe cold at once ceased. The temperature 
rose for a few hours to and even above the freezing-point. A 
water-sky was again formed along the horizon of the ice from 
north-east to north, and from the heights at the coast there was 
seen an extensive opening in the ice-fields, which a little east 
of Irgunnuk nearly reached the shore. Some kilometres farther 
east even the shore itself was free of ice, and from the hills our 
sailors thought they saw a heavy sea in the blue water bordei 
which bounded the circle of vision. If this was not an illusion 
caused by the unequal heating and oscillatory motion of the 
lower stratum of the atmosphere, the open water may have been 
of great extent. Perhaps the statement of the natives was 



a9H, 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



correct, that it extended as far as Behring's Straits. But we 
could not now place complete reliance on their statements, since 
we had rewarded with extra treating some predictions, relating 
to ice and weather, that were favourable to us. Even between 
the vessel's anchorage and the land various cracks had been 
formed, through which the sea water had forced its way under 
the snow, and in which some of us got cold foot or leg baths 
during our walks to and from the land. 

The Chukches at Irgunnuk were now successful in killing a 
Polar bear and seventy seals, of which some were ostentatiously 
set up in rows, along with frozen slices of blubber, along the 
outer walls of the tents, and others were laid down in the 
blubber cellars, which were soon filled to overflowing. At 




!»rp^/j-f 



-rfr^ 




THE ENCAMPMENT PITLEKAJ ABANDONED BY ITS INHABITANTS ON THE 18TH FEBRUARY, 1S70. 

(After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 



Yinretlen, the encampment nearer us, the hunters on the other 
hand had obtained only eight seals. Gladness and want of care 
for the morrow at all events prevailed here also, and our skin- 
clad friends availed themselves of the opportunity to exhibit a 
self-satisfied disdain of the simple provisions from the Vega, 
which the day before they had begged for with gestures so pitiful, 
and on which they must, in a day or two, again depend. The 
children, who had fallen off during recent weeks, if not in com- 
parison with European children, at least with well-fed Chukch 
ones, began speedily to regain their former condition, and likewise 
the older people. Begging ceased for some days, but the vessel's 
deck still formed a favourite rendezvous for crowds of men, 



XI.] MILD WEATHER FOLLOWED BY SEVERE COLD. 39^ 

women, and children. Many passed here the greater part of 
the day, cheerful and gay in a temperature of —40° C, gossiped', 
helped a little, but always only a little, at the work on boards 
and so on. The mild weather, the prospect of our getting free; 
and of an abundant fishing for the Chukches, however, soorl 
ceased. The temperature again sank below the freezing-point, 
that is of mercury, and the sea froze so far out from the shore 
that the Chukches could no longer carry on any fishing. Instead 
we saw them one morning come marching, like prisoners on an 
Egyptian or Assyrian monument, in goose-march over the ice 
toward the vessel, each with a burden on his shoulder, of whose 
true nature, while they were at a distance, we endeavoured in 
vain to form a guess. It was pieces of ice, not particularly 
large, which they, self-satisfied, cheerful and happy at their new 
hit, handed over to the cook to get from him in return some of 
the hauka (food) they some days before had despised. 

The first time the temperature of the air sank under the 
freezing-point of mercury, was in January. It now became 
necessary to use instead of the mercury the spirit thermometers, 
which in expectation of the severe cold had been long ago hung 
up in the thermometer case. When mercury freezes in a 
common thermometer, it contracts so much that the column of 
mercury suddenly sinks in the tube, or if it is short, goes wholly 
into the ball. The position of the column is therefore no 
measure of the actual degree of cold when the freezing takes 
place. The reading of —89°, or even of —150°, which at a 
time when it was not yet known that mercury could at a low 
temperature assume the solid form, was made on a mercurial 
thermometer in the north of Sweden,^ and which at the time 
occasioned various discussions and doubts as to the trustworthi- 
ness of the observer, was certainly quite correct, and may be 
repeated at any time by cooling mercury under its freezing-point 
in a thermometer of sufficient length divided into degrees under 
0°. The freezing of mercury ^ takes place from below upwards, 

1 And. Hellant, Amndrhningar om en helt ovanlig hold i Tome (Remarks 
on a Quite Unusual Cold in Torne), Vet.-akad. Handl. 1759, p. 314, and 
1760, p. 312. In the latter paper Hellant himself shows that the column 
of mercury in a strongly cooled thermometer for a few moments sinks 
farther when the ball is rapidly heated. This is caused by the expansion 
of the glass when it is Avarmed before the heat has had time to com- 
municate itself to the quicksilver in the ball, and therefore of course can 
happen only at a temperature above the freezing-point of mercury. 

^ That mercury solidifies in cold was discovered by some academicians 
in St. Petersburg on the 25th December, 1759, and caused at the time a 
great sensation, because by this discovery various erroneous ideas were 
rooted out which the chemists had inherited from the alchemists, and 
which were based on the supposed property of mercury of being at the 
same time a metal and a fluid. 



400 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. 

the frozen metal as being heavier sinking down in that^ portion 
which is still fluid. If when it is half frozen the fluid be poured 
away from the frozen portion, we obtain groups of crystals, 
composed of small octohedrons, grouped together by the edges 
of the cube. None of our mercurial thermometers suffered any 
damage, nor was there any alteration of the position of the 
freezing-point in them from the mercury having frozen in them 
and again become fluid. 

During the severe cold the ice naturally became thicker and 
thicker; and by the continual northerly winds still higher 
torosses were heaped up round the vessel, and larger and larger 
snow masses were collected between it and the land, and on the 
heights along the coast. All hopes or fears of an early release 
were again given up, and a perceptible dullness began to make 
itself felt after the bustle and festivities of the Christmas 
holidays. Instead there was now arranged a series of popular 
lectures which were held in the lower deck, and treated of the 
history of the North-East Passage, the first circumnavigations of 
the globe, the Austrian-Hungarian Expedition, the changes of 
the earth's surface, the origin of man, the importance of the 
leaf to the plants, &c. It became both for the officers and 
scientific men and the crew a little interruption to the monotony 
of the Arctic winter life, and the lecturer could always be certain 
of finding his little auditory all present and highly interested. 
Some slight attempts at musical evening entertainments were 
also made, but these failed for want of musical instruments and 
musical gifts among the Vega men. We had among us no 
suitable director of theatrical representations after the English- 
Arctic pattern, and even if we had had, I fear that the director 
would have found it very difficult to gather together the 
dramatic talents requisite for his entertainment. 

On the 17th Febru-ary Lieutenant Brusewitz made an 
excursion to Najtskaj, of which he gives the following 
account :^ 

" I and Notti left the vessel iii the afternoon, and after two 
hours came to Rirajtinop, Notti's home ; where we passed the 
night, together with his three younger brothers and an invalid 
sister, who all lived in the same tent-chamber. Immediately 
after our arrival one of the brothers began to get the dog-harness 
and sleigh ready for the following day's journey, while the rest 
of us went into the interior of the tent, where the invalid sister 
lay with her clothes off, but wrapt in reindeer skins. She took 
charge of two train-oil lamps, over which hung two cooking . 
vessels, one formerly a preserve tin, and the other a bucket of 
tinned iron. One of the brothers came in with a tray, on 
which was placed a piece of seal blubber, together with frozen 



XI.]: 



BRUZEWITZ'S EXCURSION TO NAJTSKAJ. 



401 



vegetables, principally willow leaves. The blubber was cut into 
small square pieces about the size of the thumb, after which 
one of the brothers gave the sister a large portion both of the 
blubber and vegetables. The food was then served out to 
the others. Every piece of blubber was carefully imbedded in 
vegetables before it was eaten. When the vegetables were 
finished there was still some blubber, which was given to the 
dogs that lay in the outer tent. After this the boiled spare-ribs 
of a seal were partaken of, and finally a sort of soup, probably 
made from seal's blood. The sister had a first and special help- 
ing of these dishes. I also got an offer of every dish, and it did 
not appear to cause any offence that I did not accept the offer. 
-After the close of the meal the cooking vessels were set down. 




NOTTI AND HIS -WIFE AITANGA. 

i(After photographs by L. Palander. 



the "pesks" taken off, and some reindeer skins taken down 
from the roof and spread out. The older brothers lighted their 
pipes, and the younger lay down to sleep. I was shown to one 
of the side places in the tent, evidently Notti's own. One of the 
lamps was extinguished, after which all slept. During the night 
the girl complained several times, when one of the brothers 
always rose and attended to her. At six in the morning I 
wakened the party and reminded them of our journey. All 
rose immediately. Dressing proceeded slowly, because much 
attention was given to the foot covering. No food was produced, 
but all appeared quite pleased when I gave them of my stock, 
which consisted of bread and some preserved beef-steaks. Imme- 
diately after breakfast four dogs were harnessed to the sleigh, with 

D D 



402 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

which Notti and I continued our journey to Najtskaj, I riding 
and he running alongside the sleigh. At Irgunnuk, a Chukch 
village about an English mile east of Rirajtinop, a short 
stay was made in order to try to borrow some dogs, but without 
success. We continued our journey along the shore, and at 
10 o'clock A.M. arrived at Najtskaj, which is from fifteen to eigh- 
teen kilometres E.S.E. from Irgunnuk. Here we were received 
by most of our former neighbours, the inhabitants ofPitlekaj. 
Of the thirteen tents of the village the five western- 
most were occupied by the former population of Pitlekaj, 
while the eight lying more to the eastward were inhabited by 
other Chukches, The Pitlekaj people had not pitched their 
common large tents, but such as were of inconsiderable size or 
small ones fastened close together. In all the tents here, as at 
Eirajtinop and Irgunnuk, there was much blubber laid up ; we 
saw pieces of seal and whole seals piled up before the tents, 
and on the way to Najtskaj we met several sledges loaded with 
sekh, on their way to Pidlin. At Najtskaj I went out hunting 
accompanied by a Chukch. We started eight hares, but did 
not succeed in getting within range of them. A red fox was 
seen at a great distance but neither ptarmigan nor traces of 
them could be discovered. At two in the afternoon I returned 
to Irgunnuk and there got another sleigh drawn by ten dogs, 
with which I soon reached the vessel." 

On the 20th February three large Chukch sledges laden with 
goods and drawn by sixteen to twenty dogs stopped at the Vega. 
They said they came from the eastward, and were on 
their way to the market in the neighbourhood of Nischni 
Kolymsk. I again by way of experiment sent with them home- 
letters, for which, as they declined to take money, I gave them as 
postage three bottles of rum and abundant entertainment for 
men and dogs. In consideration of this payment they bound 
themselves faithfully to execute their commission and promised 
to return in May. And they kept their word. For on the 8th 
and 9th May a large number of sledges heavily laden with rein- 
deer skins and drawn by many dogs, passed along the coast from 
[ west to east. Of course all rested at the Vega, the only house 
of entertainment on the coast of the Asiatic Polar Sea, consider- 
ing it as a matter of indisputable- right, that they should in 
return for a little talk and gossip obtain food and " ram." Very 
eagerly they now informed us that a letter would come with 
another dog train that might be expected in a few hours. This 
was for us a very great piece of news, the importance of which 
none can understand who has never hungered for months for 
news from home, from the home-land and the home-world. 
Eager to know if we had actually to expect a post from Europe, 



XI.] A FEOZEN DOG. 403 

we asked them how large the packet was. " Very large " was 
the answer, and the " ram " was of course measured accordingly. 
But when at last the letter came it was found to be only an 
exceedingly short note from some of the Russian officials at 
Kolyma, informing me that our letters had reached him on the 
"^I^^J^h ^^^ ^^^ been immediately sent by express to Yakutsk. 
Thence they were sent on by post, reaching Irkutsk on the jith 
May, and Sweden on the 2nd August. 

During autumn and midwinter the sunshine was not of 
course strong and continuous enough to be painful to the eyes, 
but in February the light from the snow-clouds and the snow- 
drifts began to be troublesome enough. On the 22nd February 
accordingly snow-spectacles were distributed to all the men, an 
indispensable precaution, as I have before stated, in Arctic 
journeys. Many of the Chukches were also attacked with snow- 
blindness somewhat later in the season, and were very desirous 
of obtaining from us blue-coloured spectacles. Johnsen even 
stated that one of the hares he shot was evidently snow-blind. 

On the evening of the 22nd February there burst upon us 
a storm with drifting snow and a cold of —36°. To be out in 
such weather is not good even for a Chukch dog. Of this we 
had confirmation the next day, when a Chukch who had lost his 
way came on board, carrying a dog, frozen stifif, by the backbone, 
like a dead hare. He had with his dog gone astray on the ice 
and lain out, without eating anything, in a snow-drift for the 
night. The master himself had suffered nothing, he was only 
hungry, the dog on the other hand scarcely showed any sign of 
life. Both were naturally treated on board the Vega with great 
commiseration and kindness. They were taken to the 'tween- 
decks, where neither Chukches nor Chukch dogs were otherwise 
admitted ; for the man an abundant meal was served of what we 
believed he would relish best, and he was then allowed, pro- 
bably for the first time in his life, to sleep if not under a sooty, 
at least under a wooden roof. The dog was for hours carefully 
subjected to massage, with the result that he came to life again, 
which struck us, and, as it appeared, not least the Chukch 
himself, as something wonderful. 

In the beginning of March there passed us a large number of 
sledges laden with reindeer skins, and drawn by eight to ten 
dogs each. Every sledge had a driver, and as usual the women 
took no part in the journey. These trains were on a commercial 
journey from Irkaipij to Pak at Behring's Straits. We found 
among the foremen many of our acquaintances from the preced- 
ing autumn, and I need not say that this gave occasion to a 
special entertainment, for the people, bread, a little spirits, soup, 
some sugar, and tobacco, for the dogs, pemmican. Conversation 
during such visits became very lively, and went on Avith little 

D D 2 



404 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

hindrance, since two of us were now somewhat at home in the 
Chukch language. For if I except two men, Menka and Noah 
Elisej, who could talk exceedingly defective Russian, there was 
not one of the reindeer or dog-foremen travelling past who could 
speak any European language, and notwithstanding this they 
all carry an an active commerce with the Russians. But the 
Chukch is proud enough to require that his own language shall 
prevail in all international commerce in the north-east of Asia, 
and his neighbours find their advantage in this. 

During the course of the winter. Lieutenant Nordquist 
collected from the Chukch foremen coming from a distance who 
travelled past, information regarding the state of the ice between 
Chaun Bay and Behring's Straits at different seasons of the year. 
Considering the immense importance of the question, even in 
a purely practical point of view, I shall quote verbatim the 
statements which he thus collected. 

Statements regarding the state of the ice on the coast hetween 
Cape Ydkan and Behring's Straits hy Chukches living there. 

"1. A Chukch from Yekanenmitschikan, near Cape Yakan, 
said that it is usual for open water to be there the whole 
summer. 

" 2. A Chukch from Kinmankau, which lies a little to the west 
of Cape Yakan, said the same. 

" 3. A Chukch from Yakan stated that the sea there becomes 
free of ice in the end of May or beginning of June. On the 
other hand it is never open in winter. 

" 4. Tatan from Yakan stated that the sea there is open from 
the end of May or beginning of June to the latter part of 
September or beginning of October, when the ice begins to drift 
towards the land. 

" 5. Rikkion from Vankarema said that the sea there is covered 
with ice in winter, but open in summer. 

" 6. A reindeer Chukch, Rotschitlen, who lives about twelve 
English miles from the Vegas winter quarters, said that 
Kolyutschin Bay, by the Chukches called Pidlin, is clear of ice 
the whole summer. 

" 7. XJrtridlin from Kolyutschin said that neither at that island 
nor in Kolyutschin Bay is there any ice in summer. 

" 8. Ranau, from Yinretlen, also said that Kolyutschin Bay is 
always open in summer. 

" 9. Ettiu, from the village Nettej, between Irgunnuk and 
Behring's Straits, stated that the sea at Nettej is open ir. 
summer, independently of the wind, in winter only when the 
wind is southerly. 

"10. Vankatte, from Nettej, stated that the sea there becomes 
open during the month " Tautinyadlin," that is, the latter part 



XI.] TRAFFIC IN SPIRITS 403 

of May and tlie beginning of June, and is again covered with 
ice during the month " Kutscshkau," or October and November, 

"11. Kepljeplja, from the village Irgunnuk, lying five English 
miles east of the Vegas winter quarters at Pitlekaj, said that 
the sea off these villages is open all summer, except when 
northerly winds prevail. On the other hand, he said that 
farther westward, as at Irkaipij, ice could nearly always be seen 
from the land. 

" 12. Kapatljin, from Kingetschkun, a village between Irgun- 
nuk and Behring's Straits, stated on the 11th January that 
there was then open water at that village. He said further, 
that Behring's Straits in winter are filled with ice when the 
wind is southerly, but open when the wind is northerly. The 
same day a Chukch from Nettej-Kengitschkau, also between 
Irgunnuk and Behring's Straits, stated that ice then lay off 
that village. He confirmed Kapatljin's statement regarding 
Behring's Straits. 

" 13. Kvano, from TJedlje, near Behring's Straits, said that 
there the sea is always open from May to the end of 
September." 

On the 13th March we came to know that spirits, too, form 
an article of commerce here. For, without having obtained any 
liquor from the Vega, the Chukches at Yinretlen had the means 
of indulging in a general fuddle, and that even their friendly 
disposition gives way under the effects of the intoxication we 
had a manifest proof, when the day after they came on board 
with blue and yellow eyes, not a little seedy and ashamed. In 
autumn a tall and stout Chukch giantess, who then paid us 
a visit, informed us that her hvisband had been murdered in a 
drunken quarrel. 

Sledges of considerable size, drawn by reindeer, began after 
the middle of March to pass the Vega in pretty large numbers. 
They were laden with reindeer skins and goods bought at the 
Russian market-places, and intended for barter at Behring's 
Straits. 

The reindeer Chukches are better clothed, and appear to be 
in better circumstances and more independent than the coast 
Chukches, or, as they ought to be called in correspondence with 
the former name, the dog Chukches. As every one owns a 
reindeer herd, all must follow the nomad mode of living, but at 
the same time they carry on traffic between the savages in the 
northernmost parts of America and the Russian fur-dealers in 
Siberia, and many pass their whole lives in commercial journeys. 
The principal market is held annually during the month of 
March, on an island in the river Little Anjui, 250 versts from 
Nischni Kolymsk. The barter goes on in accordance with a 



405 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

normal price-list, mutually agreed upon by the Russian mer- 
chants and the oldest of the Chukches, The market is in- 
augurated on the part of the Russians by a mass performed by 
the priest/ who always accompanies the Russian crown com- 
missioner, and in the Chukches' camp with buffoonery by one of 
the Chukch Shamans. At such a market there is said to be 
considerable confusion, to judge by the spirited description which 
Wrangel gives of it {Reise, i. p. 269). We ought, however, to 
remember that this description refers to the customs that pre- 
vailed sixty years ago. Now, perhaps, there is a great change 
there. In the commercial relations in north-eastern Asia in the 
beginning of this century, we have probably a faithful picture 
of the commerce of the Beormas in former days in north- 
eastern Europe. Even the goods were probably of the same 
sort at both places, perhaps, also, the stand-points of the culture 
of the two races. 

Besides the traders, a large number of Chukches from Kol- 
yutschin Island and other villages to the west, travelled past us 
with empty sledges, to which were harnessed only a few dogs. 
They returned in the course of a few days with their sledges 
fully laden with fish which they said they had caught in a 
lagoon situated to the eastward. They also sometimes sold a 
delicious variety of the Coregonus taken in a lake in the 
interior some distance from the coast. 

Further on in winter a number of excursions were under- 
taken in different directions, partly to find out these fishing 
places, partly to get an idea of the mode of life of the reindeer 
Chukches. I, however, never ventured to give permission for 
any long absence from the vessel, because I was quite convinced 
that the sea round the Vega after a few days' constant southerly 
storm might become open under circumstances which would not 

^ During the market the Russian priest endeavours to make proselytes ; 
he succeeds, too, by distributing tobacco to induce one or two to subject 
themselves to the ceremony of baptism. No true conversion, however, 
can scarcely come in question on account of the difference of language. 
As an example of how this goes on, the following story of Wrangel's may 
be quoted. At the market a young Chukch had been prevailed upon, by a 
gift of some pounds of tobacco, to allow himself to be baptised. The cere- 
mony began in presence of a number of spectators. The new convert 
stood quiet and pretty decent in his place till he should step down into the 
baptismal font, a large wooden tub filled with ice-cold water. In this, 
according to the baptismal ritual, he ought to dip three times. But to 
this he would consent on no condition. He shook his head constantly, and 
brought forward a large number of reasons against it, which none under- 
stood. After long exhortations by the interpreter, in which promises of 
tobacco probably again played the principal part, he finally gave way and 
sprang courageously down into the ice-cold water, but immediately jumped 
up again trembling with cold, crying, " My tobacco ! my tobacco!" All 
attempts to induce him to renew the bath were fruitless, the ceremony 
was incomplete, and the Chukch only half baptised. 



XI.] 



PALANDER'S AND KJELLMAN'S EXCURSION. 



407 



permit us to remain in the open road where we lay moored ; 
my comrades' desire to penetrate far into the Chukch peninsula 
could not on that account be satisfied. But short as these 
excursions were, they give us, however, much information re- 
garding our winter life, and our contact with the little-known 
tribe, on the coast of whose homeland the Vega had been beset, 
and on that account, perhaps, there may be reasons for making 
extracts from' some of the reports given in to me with reference 
to these journeys. 




MAP or THE REGION ROUND THE " VEGA'S " WINTER QUARTERS. 

Mainly after G. Bove. 
1. Rotschitlen's teut. 2. Yettugin's tent. 



Palanders and Kjellman's excursion to a reindeer ChuJcch caynp 
south-ivest of Pitlekaj, is sketched by the former thus : — 

"On the 17th March, 1879, accompanied by Dr. Kjellman, I 
went out with a sledge and five men, among them a native as 
guide, to the reindeer Chukch camp in the neighbourhood of 
Taffelberg (Table Mountain), with a view to obtain fresh rein- 
deer flesh. The expedition was fitted out with two days' pro- 
visions, tent, mattrasses, and pesJcs. The reindeer Chukches were 
met with eleven English miles from the vessel. On an eminence 
here were found two tents, of which one at the time was unin- 
habited. The other was occupied by the Chukch, Rotschitlen, 



408 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cuAr. 

his young wife, and another young pair, the latter, if I under- 
stood them right, being on a visit, and properly having their 
home at Irgunnuk. 

" Round the tent, which was considerably smaller than those we 
daily saw at the coast, lay a number of sledges piled up on one 
another. These sleds^es differed from the common doo'-sled^es 
in being considerably larger and wider in the gauge. The 
runners were clumsy and axed from large wood, 

" Our proposal to purchase reindeer was immediately declined, 
although we offered in exchange . bread, tobacco, rum, and even 
guns. As a reason for this refusal they stated that the reindeer 
at this season of the year are too lean to be slaughtered. We 
saw about fifty reindeer pasturing on an eminence at a distance 
of several thousand feet from us. 

" In the afternoon Kjellman and I were invited into the tent, 
where we passed an hour in their sleeping chamber. On our 
entrance the lamp, which was filled with seal oil, was lighted ; 
a sort of moss (sphagnum) was used as a wick. Our hostess 
endeavoured to make our stay in the tent as agreeable 
as possible ; she rolled together reindeer skins for pillows 
and made ready for us a place where, stretched at full length, 
we might enjoy much needed repose. In the outer tent 
the other women prepared supper, which consisted of boiled 
seal's-flesh. We received a friendly invitation to share their 
meal, but as we had no taste for seal's-flesh, we declined their 
offer under the pretext that we had just had dinner. They 
took their meal lying with the body in the inner tent, but with 
the head under the reindeer-skin curtain in the outer, where the 
food was. After the meal was partaken of, their heads were 
dra"wn within the curtain; our host divested himself of all his 
clothes, the trousers excepted, which were allowed to remain. 
Our hostess let her 'pesh fall down from her shoulders, so that the 
whole upper part of the body thus became bare. The reindeer- 
skin boots were taken off, and turned outside in; they were 
carefully dried and hung up in the roof over the lamp to dry 
during the night. We treated the women to some sugar, which, 
in consequence of their want of acquaintance with it, they at 
first examined with a certain caution, finding afterwards that it 
tasted exceeding well. After the meal our host appeared to 
become sleepy ; we accordingly said good-night, and went to our 
own tent, where it was quite otherwise than warm, the 
temperature during the night being about — 11° C. 

" After for the most part a sleepless night, we rose at half-past 
six next morning. When we came out of the tent we saw all 
the reindeer advancing in a compact troop. At the head was an 
old reindeer with large horns, that went forward to his master, 
who had in the meantime gone to meet the herd, and bade him 



XI.] , A EEINDEER CHUKCH ENCAMPMENT. 409 

good-morning by gently rubbing his nose against his masters 
hands. While this was going on the other reindeer stood 
drawn up in well-ordered ranks, like the crew in divisions on 
board a man-of-war. The owner then went forward and saluted 
every reindeer ; they were allowed to stroke his hands with their 
noses. He on his part took every reindeer by the horn and 
examined it in the most careful way. After the inspection was 
ended at a sign given by the master the whole herd wheeled 
round and returned in closed ranks, with the old reindeer in 
front, to the previous day's pasture. 

" The whole scene made a very favourable impression on us ; it 
was not the grim hard savage showing in a coarse and barbarous 
way his superiority over the animals, but the good master 
treating his inferiors kindly, and having a friendly word for 
each of them. Here good relations prevailed between man and 
the animals. Rotschitlen himself was a stately young man, 
with an intelligent appearance and a supple handsome figure. 
His dress, of exceedingly good cut and of uncommonly fine 
reindeer skin, sat close to his well-grown frame, and gave us an 
opportunity of seeing his graceful and noble bearing, which was 
most observable when he was in motion. 

"On our repeating our proposal to purchase reindeer we again 
met with a refusal, on which we struck our tent and commenced 
our return journey. We came on board on the 18th March 
at 3 o'clock P.M., after a march of four hours and three- 
quarters. 

" The way to the reindeer camp rose and fell gently. The 
snow was hard and even, so that we could go forward rapidly. 
On the way out four foxes and some ravens were seen. At one 
place we found a large number of lemming passages excavated 
through the snow in an oblique direction towards the ground. 
Most of them were scratched up by foxes. The descent to an 
untouched lemming nest was cylindrical, and four and a half 
centimetres in diameter. During both days we had snow, and a 
thick and foggy atmosphere, so that we could see only a short 
distance before us ; we did not however go astray, thanks to the 
good eyes and strongly developed sense of locality of our guide, 
the native." 

Brusewitz's and Nordquist's Excursion to Nutschoitjin. 

Of this Nordquist gives the following account : — 

"On the 20th March, at 9 o'clock a.m. Lieut. Brusewitz, 
boatswain Lustig, the Norwegian hvinters Johnsen and Sievertsen, 
the Chukch Notti, and I, left the Vega. Our equipment, which 
consisted of provisions for eight days, cooking apparatus, canvas 
tent, india-rubber mattrasses, reindeer-skin J9es/t5, &c., we drew 



410 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

after us on a sledge. At 2.45 p.m. we came to Nutschoitjiu 
(Coregonus Lake). During our journey we passed a river 
which flows between Nutschoitjiu and the mountain Hotsch- 
keanransfa about ten EnofHsh miles south of this lake and falls 
into the great lagoon south of Pitlekaj. Farther into the 
interior this river, accordino: to Notti's statement, flows through 
several lakes : he also informed us that in summer it abounds 
very much in salmon (licnnc). Some sandy hills formed the 
watershed between it and Nutschoitjiu. The only animal we 
saw during our outward journey was a fox. On the other hand 
we found traces of hares, ptarmigan, and a couple of lemmings. 
After we had found a suitable camping-j^lace, we began to build 
a snow-house, which, however, we could not get ready till 
next day. 

" On the 21st Brusewitz and I went out to view our nearest 
surroundings. On a hill north of the lake, where Potentilla, 
Carex, and Poa stuck up through the snow-covering, we saw a 
large number of traces of the fox, the hare, and the ptarmigan. 
We employed the 22nd in cutting some holes in the ice, which 
was about one and a half metres thick, and in setting a net. For 
I wished to ascertain what species of Coregonus it is which, 
according to Notti's statement, occurs in abundance in this lake. 
At the place where the net was set there was something more 
than a metre of water under the ice. The bottom consisted of 
mud. When we cut a hole in the middle of the lake in order to 
get deeper water we found that the ice, one and a half metres 
thick there, reached to the bottom. 

" Next morning we got in the net eleven Coregoni, of which 
the largest were about thirty-five centimetres long. Although 
the weather was grey and we could not see very far, we went the 
same day to the hill Hotschkeanranga ; partly to determine its 
height, and partly from its summit, which is visible for a great 
distance, to get a view of the appearance of .the surrounding 
country. After crossing the river which flows between Nuts- 
choitjiu and Hotchkeanranga, we began to ascend the long slope 
on whose summit Hotchkanrakenljeut (Hotchkeanranga's head) 
rises with steep sides above the surrounding country. Over the 
slope were scattered loose blocks of stone of an eruptive rock. 
The crest of " the head " was also closely covered with loos6 
stones. On the north or wind side these stones were covered 
with a hard beaten crust of snow nearly two feet thick ; on the 
south side most of them Avere bare. According to Brusewitz the 
southern slopes are still steeper than the northern. South of 
the hill he saw a large valley — probably a lake — ^through which 
flows the river which we crossed. 

"As on the outward journey I went with Notti, he advised me 
to offer a little food and brandy to the Sjjirit of the Lake, 



XI.] , EXCURSION TO NAJTSKAJ AND TJAPKA. 411 

itjakcn hamak, in order to get good net fishing. On my inquiring 
what appearance he had, Notti replied " itinga lilapen'' " I have 
never seen him," Besides this spirit there are in his view others 
also in streams, in the earth, and in some mountains. The 
Chukches also sacrifice to the sun and moon. On the other 
hand they do not appear, as some other races, to pay any sort of 
worship to their departed friends. When I gave him a biscuit 
and bade him offer it, he made with the heel a little depression 
in the snow on Nutschoitjin, crumbled a little bit of the biscuit 
in pieces, and threw the crumbs into the hollow. The rest of 
the biscuit he gave back, declaring that hamak did not require 
more, and that we should now have more fish in the net than 
the first time. Notti said also that the Chukches are wont to 
sacrifice something for every catch. Thus have probably arisen 
all the collections of bear and seal skulls and reindeer horns, 
which we often saw on the Chukch coast, especially on 
eminences. 

" After we had read off the aneroid, we speedily made our way 
to the snow-house, because during the interval a violent storm of 
drifting snow had arisen, so that we could not see more than 
half a score of paces before us. On the slope below " the head " 
we had already on our way thither seen traces of two wild 
reindeer. Notti said that there are a few of them on the hill 
the whole winter. The greater number, however, draw farther 
southward, and approach the coast only during summer, Johnsen 
had wounded an owl {Strix nydea), which however made its 
escape. On the 24th snow fell and drifted during the whole 
day, so that we could not go out to shoot. On the 25th we 
came on board again. 

"According to the aneroid observations made during the 
journey, the highest summit we visited had a height of 197 
metres." 

Lieutenant Bove's Account of an Excursion to Najtskaj and 

Tja'pka. 

"On the 19th April, at 4 o'clock A.M., the hunter Johnsen 
aud I started on a short excursion eastward along the coast, 
with a view to pay a visit to the much frequented fishing 
station Najtskaj, where our old friends from Pitlekaj had settled. 
We had a little sledge which we ourselves drew, and which was 
laden with provisions for three days and some meteorological 
and hydrographical instruments, 

" At 6 o'clock A.M, we reached Kirajtinop, where we found 
Notti, a serviceable, talented, and agreeable youth. The village 
Rirajtinop, which formerly consisted of a great many tents, now 
had only one tent, Notti's, and it was poor enough. It gave the 
inhabitants only a slight protection against wind and cold. 



412 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHAF. 



Among household articles in the tent I noticed a face-mask of 
wood, less shapeless than those which according to Whymper's 
drawings are found among the natives along the river Youcon, 
in the territory of Alaska, and according to Dr. Simpson among 
the West-Eskimo. I learned afterwards that this mask came 
from Pak, Behring's Straits, whither it was probably carried 
from the opposite American shore. 

" The village Irgunnuk lies from three to four hundred metres 
from Rirajtinop, and consists of five tents, one of which two days 
before had been removed from Yinretlen. The tents are as 
usual placed on earthy eminences, and have if possible the en 
trance a couple of paces from some steep escarpment, manifestly 
in order that the door- opening may not be too much obstnicted 
with snow. I reckon the population of Irgunnuk at forty persons. 

" Off this village the ice is broken up even close to the land 
into torosses, five to six metres high, which form a chain which 




THE SLEEPING CHAMBER IN A CHUKCH TENT. 

(After a drawing by ths seaman Hansson.) 



closely follows the shore for a distance of five to six hundred 
metres to the eastward. The coast from Irgunnuk to Najtskaj 
runs in a straight line, is low, and only now and then interrupted 
by small earthy eminences, which all bear traces of old dwellings. 
Each of these heights has its special name : first Uelkantinop, 
then Tiumgatti, and lastly Tiungo, two miles west of Najtskaj. 
In the neighbourhood of Uelkantinop we were overtaken by a 
reindeer-Chukch, who accompanied us to Najtskaj in order 
there to purchase fish and seal-blubber. At noon we reached 
Najtskaj, where our arrival had been announced by a native, 
who, with his dog-team, had driven past us on the way. Ac- 
cordingly on our entrance we were surrounded by the youth of 
the village, who deafened us with their unceasing cries for 
bread (kaitka), tobacco, ram, &c. After some moments the 
begging urchins were joined both by women and full-grown men. 



XI.] CHUKCH LAMPS. 413 

We entered a tent, which belonged to a friend or perhaps 
relation of Notti. There we were very well received. In the 
same tent the reindeer-Chukch also lodged who had given us his 
company on the way. He went into the sleeping chamber, threw 
himself down there, took part in the family's evening meal, all 
almost without uttering a word to the hostess, and the next morn- 
ing he started without having saluted the host. Hospitality is here 
of a peculiar kind. It may perhaps be expressed thus : To-day I 
eat and sleep in your tent, to-morrow you eat and sleep in mine ; 
and accordingly, as far as I saw, all, both rich and poor, both those 
who travelled with large sledges, and those who walked on foot, 
were received in the same way. All are sure to find a corner in 
the tent-chamber. 

" The tent-chamber, or yaranga, as this part of the tent is 
called by the natives, takes up fully a third-part of the whole 
tent, and is at the same time work-room, dining-room, and 
sleeping chamber. Its form is that of a parallelepiped ; and a 




a. I: 

CHUKCH LAMPS. 

a. "Wooden cup to place under the lamp. ft. Lamp of burned clay. 
One-fifth, of the natural size. 



moderately large sleeping chamber has a height of 1-80 metre, 
a length of 3'50, and a breadth of 2-20 metres. The walls are 
formed of reindeer skin with the hair inwards, which are 
supported by a framework of posts and cross-bars. The floor 
consists of a layer of grass undermost, on which a walrus skin is 
spread. The grass and the skin do not form a very soft bed, 
yet one on which even a tired European wanderer may find 
rest. The interior of the sleeping-chamber is lighted and 
warmed by lamps, whose number varies according to the size of 
the room. A moderately large chamber has three lamps, the 
largest right opposite the entrance, the two others on the cross 
walls. The lamps are often made of a sort of stone, which is 
called by the natives uJculschi. They have the form of a large 
ladle. The fuel consists of train-oil, and moss is used for the 
wick. These lamps besides require constant attention, because 
half-an-hour's neglect is sufficient to make them smoke or go 



414 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHAV'. 



out. The flame is at one corner of the lamp, whose moss wick 
is trimmed with a piece of wood of the shape shown in the 
drawing. The lamp rests on a foot, and it in its turn in a basin. 
In this way every drop of oil that may be possibly spilled is 
collected. If there is anything that this people ought to save, it 
is certainly oil, for this signifies to them both light and heat. 
In the roof of the bedchamber some bars are fixed over the 
lamps on which clothes and shoes are hung to dry. The lamps 
are kept alight the whole day; during night they are com- 
monly extinguished, as otherwise they would require continual 
attention. Some clothes and fishing implements, two or three 
reindeer skins to rest upon — these are the whole furniture of a 
Chukch tent. 

" Every tent is besides provided with some drums {ydrar). 
These are made of a wooden ring, about seventy centimetres in 
diameter, on which is stretched a skin of seal or walrus gut. 
The drum is beaten with a light stick of whalebone. The 
sound thus produced is melancholy, and is so in a yet higher 




SECTION OF A CHDKCH LAMP. 

(After a drawing by G. Bove.) 

aa. The oil. &. The wick. c. The foot. d. The basin under It. 

e. Stick for trimming the wick. 



degree when it is accompanied by the natives' monotonous, 
commonly rhythmical songs, which appear to me to have a strong 
resemblance to those we hear in Japan and China. A still 
greater resemblance I thought I observed in the dances of these 
peoples. Notti is a splendid ydrar-^la^jer. After some pressing 
he played several of their songs with a feeling for which I had 
not given him credit. The auditors were numerous, and by their 
smiles and merry eyes one could see that they were transported 
by the sounds which Notti knew how to call from the drum. 
Notti was also listened to in deep silence, with an admiration 
like that with which in a large room we listen to a distinguished 
pianist. I saM^ in the tent no other musical instrument than 
that just mentioned. 

" The day Ave arrived at ISTajtskaj we employed in viewing the 
neighbourhood of the village. We accordingly ascended a hill 
about thirty metres high to the south of the village in order 
to get a clear idea of the region. From the summit of the 



XL] 



LAGOON FISHING. 



415 



hill we had a view of the two lagoons west and east of Najtskaj. 
The western appeared, with the exception of some earthy 
heights, to embrace the whole stretch of coast between 
Najtskaj, the hill at Yinretlen, and the mountains which are 
visible in the south from the Observatory. The lagoon east 
of Najtskaj is separated from the sea by a high rampart of sand, 
and extends about thirty kilometres into the interior, to the foot 
of the chain of hills which runs along there. To the eastward 
the lagoon extends along the coast to the neighbourhood of 
Serdze Kamen. This cape was clearly seen and, according to an 
estimate which I do not think was far from the truth, was 
situated at a distance of from twenty-five to twenty-six kilo- 
metres from Najtskaj. It sinks terracewise towards the sea, 
and its sides are covered with stone 
pillars, like those we saw in the neigh- 
bourhood of Cape Great Baranoff. 
Serdze Kamen to the south is con- 
nected with mountain heights which 
are the higher the farther they are 
from the sea. Some of these have a 
conical form, others are table-shaped, 
reminding us of the Ambas of Abys- 
sinia. Ten or twelve miles into the 
interior they appear to reach a height 
of six hundred to nine hundred metres 
" The fishing in the eastern lagooi 
takes place mainly in the neighbour 
hood of Najtskaj, at a distance ol 
about five kilometres from the village. 
Hooks are exclusively used, and no 
nets or other fishing implements. In 
a few minutes I saw twenty cod 
[urohadlin) caught, and about as many 
small fish, called by the natives nukio- 
nukio. For the fishing the natives make a hole in the ice, 
a decimetre in diameter. Round the hole they build, as 
a protection against wind and drifting snow, a snow wall 
eighty centimetres high, forming a circle with an inner 
diameter of a metre and a half. The fish-hooks are of iron 
and are not barbed. The line is about five metres long, 
and is fixed to a rod iiearly a metre in length. At the end of 
the angling line hangs a weight of bone, and beside it the hook. 
It is generally the women who fish, yet there are generally two 
or three men about to open the holes, build the walls, and keep 
the fishing-places clear. All the holes with their shelter- walls 
lie in an arc, about a kilometre in length, whose convex side is 
turned to the east. The ice in the lagoon was 1"7 metre thick. 




CHURCH SHAMAN DRUM. 

One-eighth the natural size. 



416 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap 

the water 3'2 metres deep, and the thickness of snow on the 
ice 0'3 metre. 

" The day after our arrival at Najtskaj we visited the village 
Tjapka, which lies at a distance of six kilometres. This village 
contains thirteen tents, some of which are more roomy and 
better built than any Chukch tent I have previously seen. 
We lodged in a tent which belonged to Erere, a friendly man 
with a face that was always cheerful. His sleeping-chamber 
was so large that it could hold more than one family. We 
found the inmates there completely naked, Erere's wife, 
Kedlanga, not excepted. Kedlanga was well formed, her 
bosom full, her stomach somewhat projecting, the thighs poor, 
the legs slender, the feet small. The men appeared to have 





THE COAST BETWEEN PADLJONNA AND ENJURMI. 

To the west Idlidlja Island, in the background the village Tjapka, to the right the great lagoon. 
(After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 

a greater disposition to stoutness than the women. Some of the 
children had disproportionately large stomachs. Both men and 
women wore copper rings on the legs, the wrists, and the upper 
arms. On festivals they decorate themselves with iron rings, 
with which some reminiscence appears to be connected, to judge 
by. the fact that they will not part with them, 

" Erere's family was very numerous, according to the prevailing 
state of matters here. He had five children, whose names, 
according to their age, were, Hatanga, Etughi, Vedlat, Uai, and 
Umonga. In all the tents which I visited I have inquired 
the number of children. Only two or three wives had more 
than three ; the average may be estimated at two. 

" The children are from their tenderest years set apart for 



XI.] LIFE IN A EEINDEER CHUKCH TENT. 417 

each other ; thus Etughi, Erere's second son, who was little 
more than eight, was set apart for Keipteka, a girl of six or 
seven. Etughi and Keipteka slept under the same roof, though 
apart. " When they grow bigger," said Erere to me, " their 
sleeping-places will be put alongside each other." At what 
age this takes place I have not ascertained, but I suppose that 
it is very early, as is common with all Oriental races. 

" Right opposite Tjapka lies a small island, by the natives 
called Idlidlja, which is about 800 metres in circumference. Its 
shores rise perpendicularly on all sides except that which is 
opposite Tjapka, in which direction it sinks with a steep slope. 
On the north end of it we found three or four whales' bones 
and some pieces of driftwood, but nothing to indicate that 
there had been any Onkilon dwellings there. The island 
swarmed with hares, which the inhabitants of Tjapka hunt with 
the bow. For this hunting they are accustomed to build 
circular walls of snow, pierced with loopholes, through which 
they shoot the unsuspecting animals. 

" Resardinff life in the tent I have still the followinsr notes : 
The most troublesome work is given to the older women. They 
rise early to light and attend to 
the lamps, yoke the dogs, and go 
fishing. The young women, on 
the other hand, sleep far into 
the day. The housewives return 
at noon ; their work is then bracei.rt of copper. 

finished, if we do not consider as Half the natural size. 

work the constant motion of the 

tongue in talk and gossip. The younger people have it 
assigned to them to sew clothes, arrange the fishing-lines and 
nets, prepare skins, &c. Sewing-thread is made from the back 
sinews of the reindeer, which they procure by barter from the 
reindeer-Chukches, giving for them fish and seal-blubber. 

" One cannot, without having seen it, form any idea of the 
large quantity of food they can consume. One evening I saw 
eight persons, including one child, eat about 30 lbs. of food. 
The bill of fare was : 1, raw fish ; 2, soup ; 3, boiled fish ; 
4, seal-blubber ; 5, seal-flesh. The raw fish commonly consists 
of frozen cod. The soup is made partly of vegetables, partly of 
seal-blood ; I saw both kinds. Vegetabie soup was prepared by 
boiling equal quantities of water and vegetables, till the mixture 
formed a thick pap. The blood soup is cooked by boiling the 
blood together with water, fish, and fat. They are very fond of 
this soup. The seal-blubber they eat by stuffing into the mouth 
the piece which has been served to them, and then cutting a 
suitable mouthful with the knife, which they bring close to the 
lips. In the same way they do with the flesh. 

E E 




il8 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[CHAr. 

" With the exception of the old women's gossip the greatest 
quietness prevails in the sleeping-chamber. It is not uncom- 
mon for men to visit each other. Thus the first night we spent 
at Najtskaj the tent where we lodged was full of people, but 
without the least disturbance arising. If one had anything to 
say he talked in quite a low tone, as if he were shy. He was 
listened to attentively, without any interruption. First when he 
had finished another began. 

" Affection between spouses and parents and children is particu- 
larly strong. I have seen fathers kiss and caress their children 
before they went to rest, and what I found most remarkable was 




THE NORTH END OF IDLIMJA ISLAND. 

(After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 



that the children never abused this tender treatment. What- 
ever one gave them, it was their first thought to divide it with 
their parents. In this resj)ect and in many others they were 
far in advance of a large number of European children." 

Lieutenant JBove's Beport on an Excitrsion along with Dr. 
Almquist to the Interior of the Chukch Peninsula, from tine 
\Wi to the 17th June, 1870. 

" We started from the vessel on the morning of the 13th June 
with a view to penetrate as far as possible into the interior of 
the Chukch peninsula. For the journey we had hu-ed, for a 



XI.] THE INTERIOR OF THE CHUKCH PENINSULA. 419 

liberal payment, two sledges drawn by dogs from Rotschitlen, a 
Chiikch at Irgunnuk. The dogs and sledges surpassed our 
expectation. In fourteen bours we traversed a distance of 
nearly forty minutes, including bends, which corresponds to a 
speed of three, perhaps four, English miles an hour, if we deduct 
the rests which were caused by the objects of the journey — 
scientific researches. This speed strikes me as not inconsider- 
able, if we consider the weight which the dogs must draw, and 
the badness and unevenness of the way. For the ground was 
undulating, like a sea agitated by a storm. But pleased as we 
wei'e with our sledges and dogs, we were as dissatisfied with 
Eotschitlen, a faint-hearted youth, without activity or experience. 
With another driver we might have been able in a few days to 
penetrate as far as the bottom of Kolyutschin Bay, which differs 
greatly in its form from that which Russian, English, and 
German maps give to it. It is not improbable that it is almost 
connected by lakes, lagoons, and rivers with St. Lawrence Bay or 
Metschigme Bay, whose inner parts are not yet investigated. 

" After we left the lagoons at Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, the coast 
began gradually to rise by escarpments, each about five metres 
in height. The plains between the escarpments are full of 
lagoons or marshes. Such a terrain continued until, about five 
hours' way from the vessel, we came to a height of twenty-seven 
metres. From this point the terrace-formations cease, and the 
terrain then consists of a large number of ranges of heights, 
intersected by rivulets, which during the snow-melting season 
must be very much flooded. Seven or eight hours' way from 
the vessel we met with such a rivulet, which farther to the 
S.S.E. unites with another which runs between two rocky 
escarpments twenty metres high. On one of these we pitched 
our tent, in order to draw and examine some hills which were 
already divested of the winter dress they had worn for nine long 
months. On the top of one of the hills we found marks of two 
recently-struck tents, which probably belonged to a reindeer 
Chukch, who had now settled halfway between Pitlekaj and 
Table Mount upon a chain of heights which appears to separate 
the Irgunnuk lagoon from the rocky eastern shore of Kolyutschin 
Bay. At our resting place we found a large number of reindeer 
horns and a heap of broken bones. 

"After resuming our journey we came in a short time to the 
foot of Table Mount, whose height I reckoned, at 180 metres. 
It slopes gently to the west and south (about 10°), but more 
steeply to the east and north (about 15°). The animal world 
there showed great activity. In less than an hour we saw more 
than a dozen foxes that ran up and down the hills and circled 
round us, as if they ran with a line. Fortunately for them they 
kept at a respectful distance from our doctor's sure gun. 

E i; 2 



420 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

" On the other side of Table Mount the ground sinks regularly 
towards Kolyutschin Bay. Here for a while we sought in vain 
for Yettugin's tent, in which we intended to pass the night, and 
which had been fixed upon as the starting-point of future 
excursions, till at last reindeer traces and afterwards the sight of 
some of these friendly animals brought us to the right way, so 
that about 9 o'clock p.m. we got sight of the longed-for dwelling 
in the middle of a snow-desert. At the word yaranga (tent) 
the dogs pointed their ears, uttered a bark of joy, and ran at full 
speed towards the goal. We arrived at 10.30 p.m. In the tent 
we were hospitably received by its mistress, who immediately 
made the necessary preparations for our obtaining food and 
rest. Yettugin himself was not at home, but he soon returned 
with a sledge drawn by reindeer. These animals had scarcely 
been unharnessed when they ran back to the herd, which 
according to Yettugin's statement was six kilometres east of 
the tent. 

" I have never seen a family so afflicted with ailments as 
Yettugin's. The sexagenarian father united in himself almost 
all the bodily ailments which could fall to the lot of a mortal. 
He was blind, leprous (?), and had no use of the left hand, the 
right side of the face, and probably of the legs. His body was 
nearly everywhere covered with the scars of old sores from four 
to five centimetres in diameter. As Dr. Almquist and I were 
compelled to pass the night in the same confined sleeping- 
chamber with him, it was therefore not to be wondered at that 
we drew ourselves as much as possible into our corner. , The 
sleeping-chamber or inner tent of a reindeer-Chukch is besides 
much more habitable than that of a coast-Chukch ; the air, if 
not exactly pure, may at least be breathed, and the thick layer 
of reindeer skins which covers the tent floor may well compare 
in softness with our beds on board. Yettugin, his wife 
Tengaech, and his brother Keuto, slept out of doors in order 
to give us more room and not to disturb us when rising. 
Keuto had inherited no small portion of his father's calamity. 
He was deaf, half idiotic, and on his body there were already 
traces of such spots as on the old man's. Keuto was however an 
obliging youth, who during our stay in the tent did all that lie 
could to be of use to us, and constantly wandered about to get 
birds and plants for us. He was a skilful archer ; I saw him at a 
distance of twenty or twenty-five paces kill a small bird with a 
blunt arrow, and when I placed myself as a target he hit me right 
in the middle of the breast at a distance of perhaps thirty metres. 

"The 14th was employed by me in astronomical and 
geodetical observations, and by Dr. Almquist in excursions in 
the neighbourhood of Yettugin's tent in order to investigate the 
fauna and flora of the neighbourhood. About 10 o'clock p.m. 



XI.] KOLYUTSCHIN BAY. 421 

he returned, quite exhausted after eight hours' walking in deep 
water-drenched snow under a perceptible solar heat. The 
results of the excursion were in all respects exceedingly good, 
not only in consequence of a number of finds in natural history, 
but also through the discovery that the shore of Kolyutschin 
Bay runs three-quarters of a mile south-west of Yettugin's tent, 
which was situated in m° 42' 4" North Lat., and 186° 24' 0" 
Long., east from Greenwich. Dr. Almquist had walked four or five 
miles along the eastern shore of the bay, which at most places is 
perpendicular with a height of fifteen metres. In consequence 
of this discovery we determined to continue our hydrographical 
observations as far as the bottom of the bay, which, according to 
Yettugin's account, was two days' march from the tent. But we 
could not carry out our plan in consequence of our guide's 
laziness, for he declared that on no conditions would he 
accompany us farther. Neither entreaties nor threats availed 
to disturb this his resolution. I endeavoured myself to drive the 
sledges, but the dogs would not move out of the spot, though, 
following ErOtschitlen's system, I thrashed them very soundly. 

" The place where Yettugin's tent was pitched offered us a 
view of an extensive snow-plain, which was enclosed on all sides 
by high hills. In the north and north-east Table Mount and 
the Tenen hill keep off the north winds, and to the south the 
encampment is protected by a long and high mountain chain 
from the winds coming from that quarter. I calculated the 
height of some of the mountains at from 1200 to 1500 metres, 
and their azure-blue colour furrowed by dark lines appears to 
me to indicate the presence of ice on the slopes. One of the 
summits of this mountain chain was easily recognisable- It was 
a truncated cone, perhaps 1500 metres high. Kolyutschin Bay 
lies between these mountains and Yettugin's tent. Its western 
shore also appears to rise perpendicularly from the sea, and it is 
higher than the eastern. The bay, which appears to be much 
larger than it is represented on the maps, was covered with level 
ice ; only here and there a piece of ice covered with snow was 
seen sticking up- 

" As we were forced to desist from visiting the interior of Koly- 
utschin Bay, we determined to go to the ground where Yettugin's 
reindeer pastured- We therefore left the tent on the evening 
of the loth and travelled E.N.E. The warmth, which had now 
commenced, began to make travelling over snow fields difficult ; 
the dogs sank to the stomach, and not unfrequently we had to 
alight in order to help the poor animals to climb the hills we were 
obliged to ascend. Scarcely however had they come to the 
reindeer tracks before even the most exhausted of them rushed 
along at the top of their speed, which might be pleasant 
enough uphill, but when they were coming down it was very 



422 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

dangerous, because the slope nearly always ends with a steep 
escarpment. We came once, without observing it, to the edge of 
such a precipice, and if we had not succeeded in time in slackening 
our speed a nice confused mass of men, dogs, and sledges would 
have tumbled over it. In order to excite their draught animals 
the Chukches avail themselves of their dogs' inclination to run 
after the reindeer, and during their journeys they endeavour to 
spur them on yet more by now and then imitating the reindeer's 
cry. After two or three hours travelling we fell in with the 
first reindeer, and then by degrees with more and more, until 
finally about 11 o'clock P.M. we came to a numerous herd, 
tended by Yettugin. I applied to him, asking him to barter a 
reindeer in good condition for a gun which I had brought alona^ 
with me. After various evasions Yettugin at length promised 
to give us next day the reindeer for the gun. He would not 
however himself, or with his own knife, kill the- reindeer ; on 
which account I requested Dr. Almquist to give it the coup 
de grace. 

" In consequence of the soft state of the snow we were obliged 
to defer the commencement of our return journey to the evening 
of the 16th. We now travelled over the chain of hills which 
unites Table Mount with Tenen, and descended their northern 
steep slope towards an extensive plain, studded for the most 
part with bogs and marshes. The 17th came in with mist and 
considerable warmth. The mist limited the circle of vision to a 
distance of some few metres, and the high temj)erature in a 
short time destroyed the crust which had been formed in the 
course of the preceding night on the surface of the snow, and 
melted the layers of snow which still covered the northern slopes 
of these two hills. The southern slopes on the other hand were 
almost quite bare, and the valleys began to be filled with water. 
Four or five days as warm as these and I believe there scarcely 
would be any snow remaining round Kolyutschin Bay. The 
illusions caused by the white fog illuminated by the sunlight were 
very astonishing. Every small spot of ground appeared as an 
extensive snow- free field, every tuft of grass as a bush, and a fox 
in our immediate neighbourhood was for a moment taken for a 
gigantic bear. Besides, during such a fog the action of the sunlight 
on the eyes was exceedingly painful even in the case of those who 
carried preservers. During the return Eotschitlen lost his way in 
consequence of the numerous different tracks. Fortunately I 
had observed how We travelled, and could with the help of 
the compass pilot our two small craft to a good haven. On the 
17th of June at 1.30 P.M. we were again in good condition on 
board the Vega!' 

In the society on board the prospects of an alteration in the 



xi.j ^ THE WEATHER DURING MAY AND JUNE. 423 

constant north winds, the perpetual snow-storms and the un- 
ceasing cold, and the hope of a speedy release from the fetters of 
the ice, were naturally constantly recurring topics of conversa- 
tion. During this time many lively word-battles were fought 
between the weather prophets in the gunroom, and many bets 
made in jest between the optimists and pessimists. The former 
won a great victory, when at noon on the 8th February the 
temperature rose to + 0°-l C, but with the exception of this 
success fortune always went against them. The north wmd, the 
drifting snow and the cold, would never cease. A blue water- 
sky indeed was often visible at the horizon to the north and 
north-east, but the " clearing " first reached our vessel a couple 
of hours before we left our winter haven for ever, and up to the 
15th June the thickness of the ice was almost undiminished (1| 
metre). The sun rose higher and higher, but without forming 
any crust upon the snow, although upon the black hull of the 
Vega, perhaps with the help of the heat in the interior, it had 
by the 14th March melted so much snow that small icicles were 
formed at the gunwale. It was one of the many deceptive 
prognostications of spring which were hailed with delight. 
However, immediately after severe cold recommenced and 
continued during the whole of the month of April, during 
which the temperature of the air never rose above — 4°-6, the 
mean temperature being — 18°-9. 

May began with a temperature of — 20°-l. On the 3rd the 
thermometer showed — 26°-8, and in the " flower-month " we 
had^only for a few hours mild weather with an au^ temperature 
+ l°-8. Even the beginning of June was very cold ; on the 3rd 
we had —14°- 3, with a mean temperature for the twenty-four 
hours of - 9°-4. Still on the 13th the thermometer at midnight 
showed — 8°-0, but the same day at noon with a gentle southerly 
wind a sudden change took place, and after that date it was 
only excej^tionally that the thermometer in the open air sank 
below the freezing-point. The melting and evaporation of snow 
now began, and went on so rapidly that the land in the end of 
the month was almost free of snow. 

Under what circumstances this took place is shown by the 
following abstract of the observations of temperature at Pitlekaj 
from the 13th June to the 18th July, 1879 :— 



Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


Max. 


Min. 


Mean. 


June 13 + 3-6° 


- 8-0° 


- 1-95° 


June 22 -f 3-0° 


+ 1-5° 


-f- 2-28^ 


14 + 2-6 


-f 0-2 


-1- 1-47 


23 -f- 4-1 


-1- 1-8 


-f- 3-00 


15 -1- 3-1 


+ 1-7 


-f 2-28 


24 -{- 6-8 


-I-0-9 


+ 3-18 


16 -1- 1-6 


- 0-6 


-f-0 90 


25 -f 4-4 


-1- 0-4 


-h 2-30 


17 + 30 


+ 0-2 


-1- 1.22 


26 -1- 3-8 


-\-0-6 


-f 1-77 


18 ■+- 2-4 


- 0-6 


+ 1-23 


27 + 1-4 


-t-0-7 


-f 1-02 


19 -1- 3-6 


+ 1-4 


-I-2-43 


28 -f- 2-1 


-f 0-2 


-I-0-92 


20 -(- 3-5 


+ 1-7 


+ 2-50 


29 -t- 0'9 


- 1-0 


- 0-12 


21 + 2-6 


+ 1-5 


+ 2-07 


30 + 1-0 


- 1-8 


- 0-27 



424 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

July 



Max. 


Min. 


Mean, 


Max. Min. 


Mean. 


1 + 0-8° 


- 0-6" 


+ 0-07'^ 


July 10 + 1-4° + 0-5° 


+ 0-90^ 


2 + 1-1 


- 1-0 


+ 0-40 


11 + 1-4 + 0-6 


+ 1-00 


3-f 5-0 


+ 1-0 


+ 2-28 


12 + 9-0 + 0-5 


+ 4-73 


4 + 3-8 


+ 1-4 


+ 2-68 


13 4- 6-5 + 3-7 


+ 5-03 


5 + 5-2 


+ 2-0 


+ 3-60 


14 4- 5-4 + 1-8 


+ 3-63 


6 + 3-3 


+ 10 


+ 2-28 


15 + 1-6 + 0-6 


+ 1-13 


7 + 5-0 


+ 1-4 


+ 2-68 


16 + 3-0 + 0-6 


+ 1-52 


8 + 8-6 


+ 0-6 


+ 4-82 


17 +11-5 + 3-8 


+ 7-80 


9+ 1-8 


+ 0-4 


+ 0-97 


18 + 9-2 + 6-2 


+ 7-52 



The figures in the maximum column, it will be seen, are by 
no means very high. That the enormous covering of snow, 
which the north winds had heaped on the beach, could disap- ' 
pear so rapidly notwithstanding this low temperature probably 
depends on this, that a large portion of the heat which the solar 
rays bring with them acts directly in melting the snow without 
sun-warmed air being used as an intermediate agent or heat- 
carrier, partly also on the circumstance that the winds pre- 
vailing in spring come from the sea to the southward, and before 
they reach the north coast pass over considerable mountain 
heights in the interior of the country. They have therefore the 
nature oifohn winds, that is to say, the whole mass of air, which 
the wind carries with it, is heated, and its relative humidity is 
slight, because a large portion of the water which it originally 
contained has been condensed in passing over the mountain 
heights. Accordingly when the dry fohn winds prevail, a con- 
siderable evaporation of the snow takes place. The slight 
content of watery vapour in the atmosphere diminishes its 
power of absorbing the solar heat, and instead increases that 
portion of it which is found remaining when the sun's rays 
penetrate to the snowdrifts, and there conduce, not to raise the 
temperature, but to convert the snow into water.^ 

1 In Lapland, too, the melting of the snow in spring is brought about in 
no inconsiderable degree by similar causes, i.e. by dry warm winds 
which come from the fells. On this point the governor of Norbotten Ian, 
H. A. Widmark, has sent me the following interesting letter : — 

"However warm easterly and southerly winds may be in the parts of 
Swedish Lapland lying next the Kolen mountains, they are not able in any 
noteworthy degree to melt the masses of snow which fall in those regions 
during the winter months. On the other hand there comes every year, if 
we may rely on the statements of the Lapps, in the end of April or begin- 
ning of May, from the west {i.e. from the fells), a wind so strong and at the 
same time so warm, that in quite a short time — six to ten hours — it breaks 
up the snow-masses, makes them shrink together, forces the mountain sides 
from their snow covering, and changes the snow which lies on the ice of the 
great fell lakes to water. I have myself been out on the fells making measure- 
ments on two occasions when this wind came. On one occasion I was on 
the Great Lule water in the neighbourhood of the so-called Great Lake Fall. 
The night had been cold but the day became warm. Ui? to 1 o'clock 
P.M. it was calm, but immediately after the warm westerly wind began 
to blow, and by 6 o'clock p.m. all the snow on the ice was changed to 



XI.] THE AUROEA AT THE VEGA'S WINTER QUARTERS. 425 

The aurora is, as is well-known, a phenomenon at the same 
time cosmic and terrestrial, which on the one hand is confined 
within the atmosphere of our globe and stands in close con- 
nection with terrestrial magnetism, and on the other side is 
dependent on certain changes in the envelope of the sun, the 
nature of which is as yet little known, and which are indicated 
by the formation of spots on the sun ; the distinguished Dutch 
physicist, VON Baumhauer, has even placed the occurrence of 
the aurora in connection with cosmic substances which fall in 
the form of dust from the interstellar spaces to the surface of 
the earth. This splendid natural phenomenon besides plays, 
though unjustifiably, a great rdle in imaginative sketches of 
winter life in the high north, and it is in the popular idea so 
connected with the ice and snow of the Polar lands, that most 
of the readers of sketches of Arctic travel would certainly con- 
sider it an indefensible omission if the author did not give an 
account of the aurora as seen from his winter station. The 
scientific man indeed knows that this neglect has, in most cases, 
been occasioned by the great infrequency of the strongly lumi- 
nous aurora just in the Franklin archipelago on the north coast 
of America, where most of the Arctic winterings of this century 
have taken place ; but scarcely any journey of exploration has at 
all events been undertaken to the uninhabited regions of the 
high north, which has not in its working plan included the 
collection of new contributions towards clearing up the true 
nature of the aurora and its position in the heavens. But the 
scientific results have seldom corresponded to the expectations 
which had been entertained. Of purely Arctic expeditions, so 
far as I know, only two, the Austrian-Hungarian to Franz Josef 
Land (1872-74) and the Swedish to Mussel Bay (1872-73), have 
returned with full and instructive lists of auroras.^ Eoss, Parry, 
Kane, McClintock, Hayes, Nares, and others, have on the 
other hand only had opportunities of registering single auroras ; 
the phenomenon in the case of their winterings has not formed 
any distinctive trait of the Polar winter night. It was the less 
to be expected that the Vega expedition would form an excep- 
tion in this respect, as its voyage happened during one of the 

water, in which we went wading to the knees. The Lapps in general 
await these warm westerly winds before they go to the fells in 
spring. Until these winds begin there is no pasture there for their rein- 
deer herds." 

1 I do not include La Recherche's wintering in 1838-39 at Bosekop, in the 
northernmost part of Norway, as it took place in a region which is all the 
year round inhabited by hundreds of Europeans. During this expedition 
very splendid auroras were seen, and the studies of them by Lottin, 
Bravais, Lilliehook, and Siljestkom, are among the most important 
contributions to a knowledge of the aurora we possess, while we have 
to thank the draughtsmen of the expedition for exceedingly faithful anil 
masterly representations of the phenomenon. 




AtTRORA AT THE " VEGA'S " WINTER QTJARTERS, 3ED MARCH, 1879, AT 9 P.M. 




DOUBLE AURORA-ARCS SEEN 20TH MARCH, 1879, AT 9.30 P.M. 




ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 2.15 A.M. 




ELLIPTIC AURORA SEEN 21ST MARCH, 1879, AT 3 A.M. 



428 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. 

years of which we knew beforehand that it would be a mini- 
mum aurora year. It was just this circumstance, however, 
which permitted me to study, in a region admirably suited for 
the purpose, a portion of this natural phenomenon under un- 
commonly favourable circumstances. For the luminous arcs, 
which even in Scandinavia generally form starting-points for the 
radiant auroras, have here exhibited themselves undimmed by 
the more splendid forms of the aurora. I have thus, undisturbed 
by subsidiary phenomena, been able to devote myself to the 
collection of contributions towards the ascertaining of the posi- 
tion of these luminous arcs, and I believe that I have in this 
way come to some very remarkable conclusions, which have been 
developed in detail in a separate paper printed in The Scien- 
tific Work of the Vega Expedition (Part I. p. 400). Here 
space permits me only to make the following statement. 

The appearance of the aurora at Behring's Straits in 1878-79 
is shown in the accompanying woodcuts> We never saw here 
the magnificent bands or draperies of rays which we are so 
accustomed to in Scandinavia, but only halo-like luminous arcs, 
which hour after hour, day after day, were unaltered in position. 
When the sky was not clouded over and the faint flight of the 
aurora was not dimmed by the rays of the sun or the full moon, 
these arcs commonly began to show themselves between eight 
and nine o'clock P.M., and were then seen without interruption 
during midwinter till six, and farther on in the year to three 
o'clock in the morning. It follows from this that the aurora 
even during a minimum year is a permanent natural 
phenomenon. The nearly unalterable position of the arcs has 
further rendered possible a number of measurements of its 
height, extent, and position from which I believe I may draw the 
following inferences : that our globe even during a minimum 
aurora year is adorned with an almost constant, single, double, or 
multiple luminous crown, whose inner edge is situated at a height 
of about 200 kilometres or 0"03 radius of the earth above its 
surface, whose centre., " the aurora-pole," lies somewhat under the 
earth's surface, a little north of the magnetic-pole, and which, 
with a diameter of 2,000 kilometres or 0'3 radius of the earth, 
extends in a plane perpendicular to the radius of the earth, which 
touches the centre of the circle. 

.1 have named this luminous crown the aurora glory on account 
of its form and its resemblance to the crown of rays round the 
head of a saint. It stands in the same relation to the ray and 
drapery auroras of Scandinavia as the trade and monsoon winds 
in the south to the irregular winds and storms of the north. The 
light of the crown itself is never distributed into rays, but re- 
sembles the light which passes through obscured glass. When 
the aurora is stronger, the extent of the light-crown is altered : 



XI.] THE ARRIVAL OF MIGRATORY BIRDS. 429 

double or multiple arcs are seen, generally lying in about the 
same plane and with a common centre, and rays are cast between 
the different arcs. Arcs are seldom seen which lie irregularly to 
or cross each other. 

The area in which the common arc is visible is bounded by 
two circles drawn upon the earth's surface, with the aurora-pole 
for a centre and radii of 8° and 28° measured on the circumference 
of the globe. It touches only to a limited extent countries 
inhabited by races of European origin (the northernmost part of 
Scandinavia, Iceland, Danish G-reenland), and even in the middle 
of this area there is a belt passing over middle Greenland, South 
Spitzbergen, and Franz Josef Land, where the cmnmon arc forms 
only a faint, very widely extended, luminous veil in the zenith, 
which perhaps is only perceptible by the winter darkness being 
there considerably diminished. This belt divides the regions 
where these luminous arcs are seen principally to the south from 
those in which they mainly appear on the northern horizon. In 
the area next the aurora-pole only the smaller, in middle 
Scandinavia only the larger, more irregularly formed luminous 
crowns are seen. But in the latter region, as in southern 
British America, aurora storms and ray and drapery auroras are 
instead common, and these appear to lie nearer the surface of the 
earth than the arc aurora. Most of the Polar expeditions have 
wintered so near the aurora-pole that the common aurora arc 
there lay under or quite near the horizon, and as the ray aurora 
appears to occur seldom within this circle, the reason is easily 
explained why the winter night was so seldom illuminated by 
the aurora at the winter quarters of these expeditions, and why 
the description of this phenomenon plays so small a part in their 
sketches of travel. 

Long before the ground became bare and mild weather 
commenced, migratory birds began to arrive : first the snow- 
bunting on the 23rd April, then large flocks of geese, eiders, long- 
tailed ducks, gulls, and several kinds of waders and song-birds. 
First among the latter was ■ the little elegant Sylvia Utoers- 
manni, which in the middle of June settled in great flocks 
on the only dark spot which was yet to be seen in the quarter 
— the black deck of the Vega. All were evidently much 
exhausted, and the first the poor things did was to look out 
convenient sleeping places, of which there is abundance in the 
rigging of a vessel when small birds are concerned. I need 
scarcely add that our new guests, the forerunners of sj)ring, were 
disturbed on board as little as possible. 

We now began industriously to collect material for a know- 
ledge of the avi- and mammal-fauna of the region. The 
collections, when this is being written, are not yet worked out, 



430 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



and I can therefore only make tlie following statement on 
this point : 

From the acquaintance I had made during my own preceding 
journeys and the study of others', with the bird-world of the high 
north, I had got the erroneous idea that about the same species of 
birds are to be met with everywhere in the Polar lands of Europe, 
Asia, and America. Experience gained during the expedition of 
the Vega shows that this is by no means the case, but that the 
north-eastern promontory of Asia, the Chukch peninsula, forms 
in this respect a complete exception. Birds occur here in much 
fewer numbers, but with a very much greater variety of types 
than on Novaya Zemlya, Spitzbergen, and Greenland ; in con- 
sequence of which the bird-world 
on the Chukch peninsula has 
in its entirety a character dif- 
fering wholly from, that of the 
Atlantic Polar lands. We indeed 
meet here with types closely 
allied to the glaucous gull {Larus 
glaucus, Brlinn.), the ivory gull 
(Z. eburneus, Gmel.), the kittiwake 
{L. tridadykis, L.), the long-tailed 
duck {Harelda glacialis, L.), the 
king duck (Soonateria spectabilis, 
L.),'^ the phalarope {Fhalaro])us 
fulicarius, ^Bonap.), the purple 
sandpiper {Tringa maritivio, 
Briinn.), &c., of Spitzbergen and 
Novaya Zemlya ; but along with 
these are found here many peculiar 
species, for instance the American 
eider (Sooiiatej-ia V.-nigmm, Gray), 
,, a swanlike goose, wholly white 
with black wing points (Anser 
hyperloreus, Pall.), a greyish-brown 
goose with bushy yellowish- white feather-covering on the head 
{Anser pidus, Pall.), a species of Fuligula, elegantly coloured on 
the head in velvet-black, white, and green, {Fuligula Stclleri, Pall.), 
the beautifully marked, scarce Larus Rossii, Pichards, of which Dr. 
Almquist on the 1st July, 1879, shot a specimen from the vessel, 
a little brown sandpiper with a spoonlike widened bill-point 
{Eurynorlihynclviisfygmmus, L.), and various song-birds not found in 
Sweden, &c. Besides, a number of the Scandinavian types living 
here also, according to Lieutenant Nordquist, are distinguished 
by less considerable differences in colour-marking and size. The 

^ The common eider (^. mollissima, L.) is absent here, or at least exceed- 
ingly rare. 




SONG-BIRDS IN THE RIGGING OF THE 

June 1879. 



xr.] 



THE SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPEE. 



'431 



singular spoon-billed sandpiper was at one time in spring so common 
that it was twice served at the gunroom table, for which after 
our return home we had to endure severe reproaches from animal 
collectors. This bird is found only in some few museums. It 
was first described by Linn^US in Museum Adolphi Friderici, 
Tomi secimdi p-odromus, Holmiae 1764, and then by C. P. 
Thunberg in the Transactions of the Swedish Academy of 
Sciences for 1816 (p. 194), where it is stated that the homeland 
of this bird is tropical America. It has since been caught a few 
times in south-eastern Asia. Probably, like Sylvia Ewersmanni, 
it passes the winter in ■ the Philippine group of islands, but in 
summer visits the high north. Like several other birds which 
appeared in spring with the first bare spots it disappeared in 
July. Perhaps it retired to the interior to breed in the bush, or, 





Eurynorhynchus pygmceus, L. 
At the side the bird's bill seen from above, of the natural size. 



which is more probable, went farther north to the islands or 
continents not yet discovered by Europeans, which in all pro- 
bability connect Wrangel 'Land with the Franklin Archipelago. 
The higher animal forms which, along with the Polar traveller, 
dare to brave the cold and darkness of the Arctic night, exert 
on him a peculiar attraction. Regarding these, Lieutenant 
Nordquist has given me the following notes : — 

" The mammal most common in winter on the north coast of 
the Chukch peninsula is the hare. It differs from the fell hare 
{Lepus horealis, Lillj.) by its larger size, and by the bones of its 
nose not tapering so rapidly. It is generally met with in flocks 
of five or six on the hills in the neighbourhood of the tents, 
which are covered only with a thin layer of snow, notwith- 



432 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

standing the large number of hungry dogs which wander about 
there. 

" The Arctic foxes ( Vulpes lagopus, L.) are very numerous. 
The common fox ( Vulpes vulgaris, Gray) appears also to be 
common. A red fox, which Lieutenant Brusewitz shot from the 
vessel in October, differed considerably from the common fox, 
and approached the mountain fox. The food of the fox appears 
in winter to consist of hares, ptarmigan, and lemmings, I have 
twice seen holes in the snow about a metre deep and at the 
mouth not more than thirty centimetres wide, which the 
Chukches said were excavated by foxes searching for lemmings. 

" Of the lemming I have seen three varieties, viz. My odes 
ohensis, M. torquatus, and Arvicola ohscurus. There is found 
here, also, according to the statements of the Chukches, a little 
mouse, in all probability a Sorex. Myodes torquatus were got 
the first time on the 12th January, Myodes ohensis on the 13th 
February. Both species were afterwards frequently brought on 
board by Chukches, and during the winter lemmings were seen 
not unfrequently running on the snow. Myodes ohensis appeared 
to be more numerous than the other species. It is singular that 
all the nine specimens of Myodes torqiiatus I obtained during the 
winter were males. Differing from both these species, Arvicola 
ohscurus does not appear to show itself above the snow during 
winter. Of the latter I got eight specimens from the village 
Tjapka, lying between Yinretlen and Behring's Straits. I after- 
wards got another from the village Irgunnuk, situated five 
English miles east of Yinretlen. 

"The more uncommon land mammals wintering in these 
regions are the wolf and the wild reindeer. Footprints of the 
latter were seen on the 23rd March, in the mountain region, 
fifteen to twenty miles south of Yinretlen. According to the 
Chukches' account some few reindeer remain on the hills along 
the coast, while the greater number migrate southwards towards 
winter. Besides these, two other mammals live here during 
winter, though they are only seen during summer and autumn, 
because they hibernate the rest of the time. These are the 
land hear and the marmot (Arctomys sp.). We saw no land 
bear, but on the 8th October Lieutenant Hovgaard and I found 
traces of this animal two or three English miles from the coast. 
The Chukches say that the land bear is not uncommon in 
summer. The marmot occurs in large numbers. It was brought 
on board for the first time by a Chukch, and the following day 
I myself saw it sitting on the top of a little hill, where it had 
its dwelling. 

" Besides the animals enumerated above the natives talked of 
another, which is called by them nennet, and is said to live by 
the banks of rivers. According to their description it appears 



X..] 



THE MAMMALIA OF CHURCH LAND. 



im 



to be the common otter. As at most places where the lemmino- 
IS common the weasel {Mustcla vulgaris, Briss.) is also found 
w^Vi. F* l^"""^ *^^ Chukches two skins of this animal. 
Whether the beaver occurs in the jDart of Chukch Land which 
r nil I '^''-T* '""T ^'^^^ certainty. It is probable, because 
the Chukches mformed me that there was found here a weasel 
which has the pomt of the tail black. 

" Only two sea mammals have been seen in this recrion in the 
course of the wmter, viz. the rough or hridled seal and the 
Folar lear. On two occasions traces of the latter have been 
observed m the neighbourhood of Land. They appear, however 



J^ 




MA.aM0T.-3 FRDM CHUKCH LAND. 

for the most part to keep by openings in the ice farther out to 
sea, where durmg our stay two of them were killed by Chukches 
from the neighbouring villages. The rough seal is probably the 
only species that occurs near the coast during winter It is 
caught m great numbers, and forms, along with fish and various 
vegetable substances, the main food of the Chukches. 

_ " Of land birds there winter in the region only three species 
viz. an ot6-/ {Strix nyctea, L.), a raven {Corvus sp.), and a ptarmi- 
gan {Lagopus sulalinna, Nilss.) ; the last-named is the most 
common. On the 14th December, during a sledge journey into 
the country I saw, about ten or twelve English miles from the 

P F 




STEG0CEPHALU3 KESSI.ERI (STUXB). 

Natvu-al size. 




SABINEA SEFfEMCARINATA (SABINe 

Natural size. 

VEBllATEB FKOM THE SEA AT THE " VEOA'S " WINTER QUARTERS. 




ACANTHUSTEPHIA MALMGRENI, (cOJiS.). 

Magnified twice. 




OPHIOGLYPHA NODOSA, (lCTKEN.). 

Magnified twice. 

EVERTEBKATES FROM THE SEA AT THE " VEGA's " WINTER QUARTERS. 

F F 2 



436 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

coast, two large coveys of ptarmigan, one of which probably 
numbered over fifty. Nearer the coast, on the other hand, there 
were found, especially during spring, for the most part only single 
birds. The raven is common at the Chukch villages, and builds 
its nest in the neighbouring cliffs. The first egg was got on the 
81st May. The mountain owl was seeiji for the first time on the 
11th March, but, according to the statements of the Chukches, 
it is to be met with during the whole winter. In April and May 
we also saw some mountain owls ; on the 21st May I saw two. 

" At open places in the sea there are found here in winter, the 
Chukches say, two swimming birds, the loom ( Uria BrunnichU, 
Sabine) and the hlack guillemot {Uria grylle, L.). Of the 
former we obtained two specimens for the first time on the 
1st May, of the latter on the 19th of the same month. 
Possibly there winter in open places of the sea besides these 
birds a species of Mergulus, one of which came to the winter 
quarters of the Vega on the 3rd November, and a Fuligula, a 
specimen of which was sold to us on the 9th March by a 
Chukch, who said he had killed it at a clearing off the coast." 

After the arrival of the migratory birds hunting excursions 
began to form a welcome interruption in our monotonous winter 
life, and the produce of the hunting a no less agreeable change 
from the preserved provisions. The Chukches besides offered 
us daily a large number of different kinds of birds, especially 
when they observed that we paid a higher price for many rare 
kinds of birds, though small and of little use for food, than for 
a big, fat goose. The Chukches killed small birds either b}'' 
throwing stones, or by shooting them with bow and arrows, in 
connection with which it may be observed that most of them 
were very poor archers. They also caught them with whale- 
bone snares set on bare spots on the beach, generally between 
two vertebrae of the whale. For pebbles are very scarce, but 
the bones of the whale are found, as has been already stated, at 
most places in large numbers on the strand-banks where the 
tents are pitched. In June we began to get eggs of the gull, 
eider, long-tailed duck, goose, and loom, in sufficient number for 
table use. The supply, however, was by no means so abundant 
as during the hatching season on Greenland, Spitzbergen, or 
Npvaya Zemlya. 

A little way from the vessel there were formed, in the end of 
May, two "leads," a few fathoms in breadth. On the 31st May 
I sent some men to dredge at these places. They returned 
with an abundant yield, but unfortunately the openings closed 
again the next day, and when I and Lieutenant Bove visited 
the place there was a large, newly-formed toross thrown up along 



XI.] . NOAH ELISEJ. 437 

the edge of the former channel. Another " lead " was formed 
some days after, but closed again through a new disturbance of 
the position of the ice, a high ice-rampart, formed of loose 
blocks, heaped one over another, indicating the position of the 
former opening. Even the strongest vessel would have been 
crushed in such a channel by the forcing together of the ice. 
Of a different sort from both these occasional leads was an 
extensive opening, which showed itself a kilometre or tAvo north 
of the vessel. It is probable that with few interruptions, which, 
however, might have been difficult to pass, it extended as far as 
Behring's Straits, where, according to the statements of the 
Chukches, several whalers had already made their appearance. 
Round the vessel itself, however, the ice still lay fast and 
unbroken. Nor did the Chukches appear to exj)ect that it 
would break up very soon, to judge by the number of vehicles 
drawn by dogs or reindeer which still passed us, both to the 
east and west. One of these travellers must here be specially 
mentioned, as his journey has been talked about as an expedition 
sent to our relief. 

It was the 19th June. A large number of Chukches 
travelling past us as usual came on board, partly to receive 
the tribute of hospitality to which they considered themselves 
entitled, partly to satisfy an easily understood curiosity and 
gossip a little about the most important occurrences of the 
preceding day. One of them, a middle-aged man, whom we had 
not seen before, with a friendly and self-satisfied bearing, whose 
face was a mere collection of wrinkles, and over whose |7fs/iT was 
dra^vn an old velvet shirt, j)resented himself with a certain 
pretentiousness as the chief Noah Elisej. Since the mistake 
with the stately Chepurin, and since even Menka's supposed 
slave declared himself to be at least as good as Menka, we had 
beofun to be rather indifferent to the rank of chief amonof the 
Chukches. Noah Elisej however, notwithstanding he thus 
brought forward his pretensions, was received like a common 
man, at which he appeared to be a little offended. But our 
behaviour soon changed, when Notti, or some other of our daily 
guests, who had become quite familiar with our fancies, tastes 
and weaknesses, informed us that Noah Elisej had with him a 
large, a very large letter. Old Noah thus carried a mail, perhaps 
a European mail. At once he became in our eyes a man of 
importance. After being stormed for a time with questions, he 
took from a bag which hung from his neck the ordinary pieces 
of board fastened together, which here serve as a postbag. They 
were found however to contain only a letter of a couple of lines 
from a Russian official at Nischni Kolymsk, without any news 
from Europe, but informing lis that chief Noah Elisej was sent 
to us to assist us, if necessary. Ni^ah first patted his stomach 



4:58 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[cJiiAr 



to indicate that he was hungry and wanted food, and hawked 
and pointed with his finger at his throat to let us know that a 
ram would taste well. He then told us something which we did 
not then exactly understand, but which we now have reason to 
interpret as a statement that Noah was the leader of an expedition 
sent by the Siberian authorities to our relief, and that he was 
therefore willing in return for suitable compensation to give us 
some reindeer. I availed myself of the offer, and purchased three 
animals for sugar, tea, and a little tobacco. Noah besides was 
a friendly and easy-going man, who, Christian though he was, 
travelled about with two wives and a largre number of children. 




NOAH ELISEJ. 

(After a photograph by L. Palauiler.) 



who all of course would see the vessel and get their treat of 
tobacco, clay pipes, sugar, ram, &c. 

So much flood water had now begun to collect on the ice, 
especially near the land, that it was exceedingly difficult to walk 
from the vessel to the shore and back. Many a proposed land 
excursion was broken off by somebody, immediately after leaving 
the vessel, sinking into some deep hole in the ice and thus getting 
a cold bath. Excursions on land however began to be exceedingly 
interesting to the botanists and zo(dogists ; and therefore to avoid 
the inconveniences mentioned I caused a tent to be pitched by 
the side of the large lagoon between Pitlekaj and Yinretlen, and 



XI.] - THE FLORA AT PITLEKAJ. 439 

a light boat to be carried thither. The bottom of the lagoon was 
still filled with ice, above which however the water stood so high 
that the boat floated in it. The naturalists settled by turns in 
the tent, and from it made excursions in different directions, as 
I hope with the result that the neighbourhood of Pitlekaj is now 
the best known tract on the north of Asia, which after all is not 
saying much. The first plant in flower {Gochlearia fenestrata, 
R. Br.) was seen on the 23rd June.-^ A week after the ground 
began to grow green and flowers of different kinds to show 
themselves in greater and greater numbers.^ Some flies were 

1 During the expedition of 1861, when we were shut up by ice in Treu- 
rpnberg Bay on Spitzbergcn (79° 57' N.L.) the first fiower {Saxifraga opposi- 
tifolia, L.), was pulled on the 22nd June. After the wintering in 1872-73, 
Palander and I during our journey round North-east Land, saw the first 
flower on the same species of saxifrage as early as the 15th June, in the 
bottom of Wahlenberg Bay (79° 46' N.L.). 

2 For the sake of completeness, I shall here also enumerate the plants 
which Dr. Kjellman found at Pitlekaj. Those marked with an * either 
themselves occur in Scandinavia or are represented by nearly allied forms. 

Leucanthemum arcticum (L. ) DC. * Rubus Chamaemorus L. 
Artemisia arctica Less. * Comarum palustre L. 

* „ vulgaris L. f. Tilesii Potentilla f ragiformis L. 

Ledeb. f. parviflora Teautv. 

Cineraria frigida Richards, f. villosa (Pall.) 

* „ palustris L. f. congesta * Sibbaldia procumbens L. 

Hook. * Dry as octopetala L. 

* Antennaria alpina (L.) R. Br. f. Spiraea betul^folia Pall. f. typica 

Friesiana Trautv. Maxim. 

* Petasites frigida. * Ilippuris vulgaris L. 

* Saussurea alpina (L.) DC. f. an- * Saxifraga stellaris L. f. comosa 

gustifolia (DC.) Poir. 

* Taraxacum officinale Web. ,, punctata L. 
Valeriana capitata Pall. * „ cernua L. 
Gentiana glauca Pall. * „ rivularis L. 
Pedicularis sudetica Willd. * Rhodiola rosea L. 

,, Langsdorffii Fisoii. * Empetrum nigrum L. 

,, lanata Willd. f. lei- * Cardamine bellidifolia L. 

antha Trautv. Cochlearia fenestrata R. Br. 

„ capitata Adams. f. typica Malmgr. 

* Polemonium coeruleum L. f. prostata Malmgr. 

* Diapensia lapponica L. Ranunculus Pallasii Sehlecht 

* Armeria sibirica TuRCZ. * „ nivalis L. 
Primula nivalis Pall. f. pygm^a '^ „ pygmseus Wg. 

Ledeb. * ,, hyperboreus Rottb. 

„ borcalis Duby. * Aconitum Napellus L. f. delpliiiji- 

* Loiseleuria procumbens (L.) Desv. foHa Reichenb, 

* LedumpalustreL. f. decumbens Ait. Claytonia acutifolia Willd. 

* Vaccinium vitis idasa L. * Wahlbergella apetala (L.) Fb. 

* Arctostaphylos alpina (L.) Spreng. * Stellaria longipes Goldie. f. hn- 

* Cassiope tetragona (L.) Don. milis Fenzl. 
Hedysarum obscurum L. * „ humifusa Rottb. 
Oxytropisnigrescens(PALL.)Fiscn. Cerastium maximum L. 

f. pygmgea Cham. * „ alpinum L. f. hirsuta 

species? Koch. 



440 THE VOYAGE UF THE VEGA. ' [chap. 

seen on a sunshiny day in May (the 27th) in motion on the 
surface of the snow, but it was not until the end of June that 
insects began to show themselves in any large numbers, among 
them many Harpalids, two large species of Carabus, and a large 
Curculionid. The insects occurring here however are not very 
numerous either in respect of species or individuals, which is not 
strange when we consider that the earth at a limited depth from 
the surface is constantly frozen. As even the shallow layer, 
which thaws in summer, is hard frozen in winter, all the insects 
which occur here must in one or other phase of their develop- 
ment endure being frozen solid for some time. But it may be 
remarked with reason with reference to this, that if life in an 
organism may so to speak be suspended for months by freezing 
stiif without being destroyed, what is there to prevent this 
suspension being extended over years, decades, or centuries ? 

The common idea, that all animal life ceases, when the interior 
animal heat sinks under the freezing-point of water, is besides 
not quite correct. This is proved by the abundant evertebrate 
life which is found at the bottom of the Polar Sea, even where 
the water all the year round has a temperature of — 2° to — 2°'7 
C, and by the remarkable observation made during the wintering 
at Mussel Bay in 1872-73, that small Crustacea can live by 
millions in water-drenched snow at a temperature of from — 2° 
to — 10°' 2 C. On this point I say in my account of the expedition 
of 1872-73:— 1 

*• Halianthus peploides (L.) Fk. Glyceria vaginata J. Loe. f . eon- 

Alsine arctica (Stev.) Fenzl. tracta J. Lge. 

* Sagina nivalis (Lindbl.) Fr. * Catabrosa algida (Sol.) Fr. 

* Polygonum Bistorta L. * Colpodium latifolium K. Br. 

* „ viviparum L. Dupontia Fischeri R. Br. 

„ polymorphum L. f. * Trisetum subspicatum (L.) P. B. 

frigida Cham. * Aira csespitosa L. f. borealis 

Rumex arcticus Trautv. Trautv. 

* Oxyria digyna (L.) Hill. Alopecurns alpinus Sm. 

Salix boganidensis Trautv. f. lati- * Hierochloa alpina (Liljebl.) Roeji. 
folia. and ScH. 

„ Chainissonis Anders. * Carex rariflora (Wg.) Sm. 

„ arctica Pall. "^ „ aqvatilis f. epijegos L/Est. 

,, cuneata TuRCZ. * „ glareosa Wg. 

* „ reticulata L. * „ lagopina Wg. 

„ species ? * Eriophorum angustifolium Roth. 

Betula glandulosa MiCHX. f. rotun- "*" „ vaginatum L. 

difolia Regel * ,, russeolum Fr. 

Elymus mollis Trin. * Luzula parviflora (Ehrh.) Desv. 

* Festuca rubra L. f. arenaria * ,, Wahlenbergii RuPR. 

OsB. * „ arcuata (Wg.) Sw. f. con- 

* Poa flexuosa Wg. f usa Lindeb. 
Arctopbila eflusa J. Lge. * Juncus biglumis L. 
Glyceria vilfoidea (Ands.) Th. Fr. Lloydia serotina (L.) Reichenb. 

1 Redogorelse for den svensTca polarexpeditionen ar 1872-73. Bihang till 
Vet.-Akad. Handl. Bd. 2, No. 18, p. 52. 



XI.] 



PHOSPHORESCENT CRUSTACEA. 



441 



" If during winter one walks along the beach on the snow 
which at ebb is dry, but at flood tide is more or less drenched 
through by sea-water, there rises at every step one takes, an 
exceedingly intense, beautiful, bluish-white flash of light, which 
in the spectroscope gives a one-coloured labrador-blue spectrum. 
This beautiful flash of light arises from the snow, before com- 
pletely dark, when it is touched. The flash lasts only a few 
moments after the snow is left untouched, and is so intense, that it 
apjDears as if a sea of fire would open at every step a man takes. 
It produces indeed a peculiar impression on a dark and stormy 
winter day (the temperature of the air was sometimes in the 
neighbourhood of the freezing-point of mercury) to walk along 
in this mixture of snow and flame, which at every step one takes 
splashes about in all directions, shining with a light so intense 
that one is readv to fear that his shoes or clothes will take 
fire." 





b. 

BEETLKS FROM PITLEKAJ. 

a. Carahvs truncaticolUs Eschsoholtz. (One and a half the natural size. ) 

b. Alophus sp. (One aiid two-thirds the natdiul size.) 

On a closer examinaticjn it appeared that this light-pheno- 
menon jDroceeded from a minute crustacean, which according to 
the determination of Prof. W. Lill.jeborg belongs to the species 
Metridia arriutta, A. Boeck, and whose proper element appears 
to be snow-sludge drenched with salt water cooled considerably 
under 0° C. First when the temperature sinks below — 10' 
does the power of this small animal to emit light appear to cease. 
But as the element in which they live, the surface of the snow 
nearest the beach, is in the course of the winter innumerable 
times cooled twenty degrees more, it appears improbable that 
these minute animals suffer any harm by being exposed to a cold 
of from •— 20° to — 30°, a very remarkable circumstance, as they 
certainly do not possess in their organism any means of raising 
the internal animal heat in any noteworthy degree above the 
temperature of the surr<junding medium. 



442 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



We did not see these animals at Pitlekaj,but a similar pheno- 
menon, though on a smaller scale, was observed by Lieut. Bellot^ 
during a sledge-journey in Polar America. He believed that the 
light arose from decaying organic matter. 

After the Chukches had told us that an exceedingly delicious 
black fish was to be found in the fresh-water lagoon at Yinretlen, 
which is wholly shut off from the sea and in winter freezes to 
the bottom, we made an excursion thither on the 8th July. Our 
friends at the encampment were immediately ready to help us, 
especially the women, Aitanga, and the twelve-year-old, somewhat 
spoiled Fc^a-favourite Reitinacka. They ran hither and thither 





PHOSPHORESCENT CRUSTACEAN FROM MUSSEL BW. 

Metridia armata, A. Boeek. 
1. A male magnified twelve times. 2. A foot of the second pair. 



like light-hearted and playful children, to put the net in order 
and procure all that was needed for the fishing. We had carried 
with us from the vessel a net nine metres long and one deep. 
.Along its upper border floats were fixed ; to the lower was bound 
a long pole, to which were fastened five sticks, by which the pole 
was sunk to the bottom of the lagoon, a little way from tlie 
shore. Some natives wading in the cold water then pushed 
the net towards the land with sticks and the pole, which glided 
easily forward over the bottom of the lake, overgrown as it was 



1 Journal d'un Voyage aux Mers Polalres. 
and 2-2 1 



Paris, 1854. Pp. 177 



XI.] - FISHING IN A FRESH-WATER LAGOON. 443 

with grass. In order to keep the fish from swimming away, the 
women waded at the sides of the net with their pcsks much 
tucked up, screaming and making a noise, and now and then 
standing in order to indicate by a violent shaking that the water 
was very cold. The catch was abundant. We caught by 
hundreds a sort of fish altogether new to us, of a type which 
we should rather have expected to find in the marshes of the 
Equatorial regions than ap here in the north. The fish were 
transported in a dog sledge to the vessel, where part of them was 




REITINACKA. 

(After a photograph by L. Palander ) 



placed in spirits for the zoologists and the rest fried, not without 
a protest from our old cook, who thought that the black slimy 
fish looked remarkably nasty and ugly. But the Chukches 
Avere right : it was a veritable delicacy, in taste somewhat 
resembling eel, but finer and more fleshy. These fish were 
besides as tough to kill as eels, for after lying an hour and a 
half in the air they swam, if replaced in the water, about as fast 
as before. How this species of fish passes the winter is still more 
enigmatical than the winter life of the insects. For the lagoon 



444 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

has no outlet and appears to freeze completely to the bottom. 
The mass of water which was found in autumn in the lagoon 
therefore still lay there as an unmelted layer of ice not yet 
broken up, which was covered with a stratum of flood water 
several feet deep, by which the neighbouring grassy plains were 
inundated. It was in this flood water that the tishing took place. 
After our return home the Yinretlen fi;sh was examined by 
Professor F. A. Smitt in Stockholm, who stated, in an address 
which he gave on it before the Swedish Academy of Sciences, 
that it belongs to a new species to which Professor Smitt gave 
the name Dallia ddicatissima. A closely allied form occurs in 
Alaska, and has been named Dallia 'pedoralis, Bean. These 
fishes are besides nearly allied to the dog-fish (Umbra Krameri, 
Fitzing), which is found in the Neusidler and Platten Lakes, and 
in grottos and other water-filled subterranean cavities in southern 
Europe. It is remarkable that the European species are con- 
sidered uneatable, and even regarded with such loathing that 




DOG-FISH FROM THE CHUKCH PENINSULA. 

Dallia delieatissi'm.a, Smitt. 
Half the natural size. 

the fishermen throw them away as soon as caught because they 
consider them poisonous, and fear that their other fish would 
be destroyed by contact with it. They also consider it an 
affront if one asks them for dog-fish.^ If we had known 
this we should not now have been able to certify that Dallia 
delicatissima, Smitt, truly deserves its name. 

In the beginning of July the ground became free of snoAv, 
and we could now form an idea of how the region looked in 
summer in which we had passed the winter. It was not just 
attractive. Far away in the south the land rose with terrace- 
formed escarpments to a hill, called by us Table Mount, which 
indeed was pretty high, but did not by any steep or bold cliffs 
yield any contribution to such a picturesque landscape border as 
is seldom wanting on the portions of Spitzbergen, Greenland, and 
the north part of Novaya Zemlya which I have visited ; south 

•^ Heckel and Kner, Die Siisswasserfische Oesferreichs, p. 295. 



XI.] . THE FROST FORMATION OF SIBERIA. 445 

Novaya Zemlya has at least at most places bold picturesque 
shore-cliffs. If I except the rocky promontory at Yinretlen, 
where a cliff inhabited by ravens rises boldly out of the sea, 
and some cliffs situated farther in along the beach of Kolyut- 
schin Bay, the shore in the immediate neighbourhood of our 
wintering station consisted everywhere only of a low beach 
formed of. coarse sand. Upon this sand, which was always 
frozen, there ran parallel with the shore a broad bank or 
dune, 50 to 100 metres broad, of fine sand, not water-drenched 
in summer, and accordingly not bound together by ice in 
winter. It is upon this dune that the Chukches erect their 
tents. Marks of them are therefore met with nearly every- 
where, and the dune accordingly is everywhere bestrewed with 
broken implements or refuse from the chase. Indeed it may 
be said without exaggeration that the whole north-eastern 
coast of the Siberian Polar Sea is bordered with a belt of 
sweepings and refuse of various kinds. 

The coarse sand which underlies the dune is, as has been 
stated, continually frozen, excepting the shallow layer which 
is thawed in summer. It is here that the " frost formation " 
of Siberia begins, that is to say, the continually frozen layer of 
earth, which, with certain interruptions, extends from the Polar 
Sea far to the south, not only under the treeless tundra, but 
also under splendid forests and cultivated corn-fields.^ To 
speak correctly, however, the frozen earth begins a little from 
the shore under the sea? For on the coast the bottom often 
consists of hard frozen sand — " rock-hard sand," as the dredgers 
were accustomed to report. The frost formation in Siberia thus 
embraces not only terrestrial but also marine deposits, together 
with pure clear layers of ice, these last being formed in the 
mouths of rivers or small lakes by the ice of the river or lake 
frozen to the bottom being in spring covered with a layer 
of mud sufficiently thick to protect the ice from melting during 
summer. The frozen sea-bottom again appears to have been 
formed by the sand washed down by the rivers having carried ' 

■^ Even pretty far south, in Scandinavia, there occur places with frozen 
earth which seldom thaws. Thus in Egyptinkorpi mosses in Nurmi and . 
Pjeii parishes in Finland pinewoods are found growing over layers or 
"tufts" of frozen sand; but also, in other places in Eastern Finland, 
we find layers containing stumps, roots, &c., of different generations of 
trees, alternating with layers of frozen mould, according to a comnmni- 
cation from the agronome Axel Asplund. A contribution to the knowledge 
of the way, or one of the ways, in which such formations arise, we 
obtain from the known fact that mines with an opening to the air, so far 
south as the middle of Sweden, are filled in a few years with a coherent 
mass of ice if the opening is allowed to remain, open. If it is shut the 
ice melts again, but for this decades are required. 

^ MiddendorfE already states that the bottom of the sea of Okotsk is 
frozen. {Sibirische Reise, Bd. 4, 1, p. 502.) 



440 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA.' [ciiAr. xr. 

with it when it sank some adhering water from the warm 
and almost fresh surface strata. At the sea-bottom the sand 
surrounded hy fresh water freezing at 0° C. thus met a stratum 
of sali water whose temperature was two or three degrees under 
0°, in consequence of which the grains of sand froze fast to- 
gether. That it may go on thus we had a direct proof when 
in spring we sank from the Vega the bodies of animals to be 
skeletonised by the Crustacea that swarmed at the sea-bottom. 
If the sack, pierced at several places, in which the skeleton was 
sunk was first allowed to fill with the slightly salt water from 
the surface and then sink rapidly to the bottom, it was found to be 
so filled with ice, when it was taken up a day or two afterwards, 
that the Crustacea were prevented from getting at the flesh. 
We had already determined to abandon the convenient cleansing 
process, when I succeeded in finding means to avoid the in- 
convenience ; this was attained by drawing the sack, while 
some distance under the surface, violently hither and thither 
so that the surface water carried down with it was got rid of. 
Frozen clay and ooze do not appear to occur at the bottom of 
the Polar Sea. Animal life on the frozen sand was rather 
scanty, but algoe were met with there though in limited numbers. 

From the shore a plain commences, which is studded with 
extensive lagoons and a large number of small lakes. In spring 
this plain is so water-drenched and so crossed by deep rapid 
snow-rivulets, that it is difficult, often impossible, to traverse it. 
Immediately after the disappearance of the snow a large number 
of birds at all events had settled there. The Lapp sparrow had 
chosen a tuft projecting from the marshy ground on which to place 
its beautiful roofed dwelling, the waders in the neighbourhood had 
laid their eggs in most cases directly on the water-drenched moss 
without trace of a nest, and on tufts completely surrounded by 
the spring floods we met with the eggs of the loom, the long- 
tailed duck, the eider and the goose. Already during our stay, 
the water ran away so rapidly, that places, which one day were 
covered with a watery mirror, over which a boat of light draught 
could • be rowed forward, were changed the next day to wet 
marshy ground, covered with yellow grass-straws from the pre- 
ceding year. At many places the grassy sward had been torn 
up by the ice and carried away, leaving openings sharply defined 
by right lines in the meadows, resembling a newly worked off 
place in a peat moss. 

In summer there must be found here green meadows covered 
with pretty tall grass, but at the time of our departure vegetation 
had not attained any great development, and the flowers that could 
be discovered were few. I presume however that a beautiful 
Arctic flower- world grows up here, although, in consequence of 
the exposure of the coast-country to the north winds, poor in 



448 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[rriAr. 



comparison with the vegetation in sheltered valleys in the interior 
of the country. There are found there too pretty high bushes, 
but on the other hand trees are represented at Pitlekaj only by 
a low species of willow which creeps along the ground. 




We did not, however, see even this " wood " in full leaf. 
For in order that full summer heat may begin it is necessary, 
oven here, that the ice break up, and this longed-f(jr 



XL] THE TIME FOE EELEASE APPEOACHING. 449 

moment appeared to be yet far distant. The ice indeed 
became clear of snow in the beginning of July, and thus the 
slush and the flood water were lessened, which during the pre- 
ceding weeks had collected on its surface and made it very 
difficult to walk from the vessel to land. Now, again pretty 
dry-shod and on a hard blue ice-surface, we could make ex- 
cursions m the neighbourhood of the vessel. We had however 
to be cautious. The former cracks had in many places been 
widened to greater or smaller openings by the flood water run- 
ning down, and where a thin black object— a little gravel a 
piece of tin from the preserved provision-cases, &c.— had lain 
on the ice there were formed round holes, resembling the seal- 
holes which I saw m spring laid bare after the melting of the 
snow on the ice in the fjords of Spitzbergen. The strength 
ot the ice besides was nearly unaltered, and on the 16th July 
a heavily loaded double sledge could still be driven from the 
vessel to the shore. 

On the 17th the "year's ice " next the land at last broke up 
so that an extensive land clearing arose. But the ground- 
ices were still undisturbed, and between these the "year's ice" 
even lay so fast, that all were agreed that at least fourteen 
days must still pass before there was any prospect of getting 

When on the 16th the reindeer-Chukch Yettugin came on 
board, and, talking of the collection of whale-bones in which 
we had been engaged some days before, informed us that 
there was a mammoth bone at his tent, and that a mammoth 
tusk stuck out at a place where the spring floods had cut into 
the bank of a river which flows from Table Mount to Eiraitinop 
i therefore did not hesitate to undertake an excursion to the 
place. Our absence from the vessel was reckoned at five or six 
days. It was my intention to go up the river in a skin boat 
belonging to Notti to the place where the mammoth tusk was 
and thence to proceed on foot to Yettugin's tent. Yettuc^in 
assured us that the river was sufficiently deep for the flat- 
bottomed boat. But when we had travelled a little way into 
tbecountry It appeared that the river had fallen considerably 
during the day that Yettugin passed on the vessel. So certain 
was 1 however that the ice-barrier would not yet for a lono- 
time be broken up, that I immediately after my return from the 
excursion, which had thus been rendered unsuccessful, made 
arrangements for a new journey in order with other means of 
transport to reach the goal. 

While we were thus employed the forenoon of the 18th passed. 
We sat down to dinner at the usual time, without any suspicion 
tnat the time of our release was now at hand. During dinner 
It was suddenly observed that the vessel was movino- slio-htly 



G G 



450 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Palander rushed on deck, saw that the ice was in motion, ordered 
the boiler fires to be Hghted, the engine having long ago been 
put in order in expectation of this moment, and in two hours, by 
3.30 P.M. on the 18th July, the Vega, decked with flags, was 
under steam and sail again on the way to her destination. 

We now found that a quite ice-free " lead " had arisen between 
the vessel and the open water next the. shore, the ice-fields 
west of our ground-ices having at the same time drifted farther 
out to sea, so that the clearing along the shore had widened 
enough to give the Vega a sufficient depth of water. The 
course was shaped at first for the N.W. in order to make a 
di^iour round the drift-ice fields lying nearest us, then along the 
coast for Behring's Straits. Oji the height at Yinretlen there 
stood as we passed, the men, women, and children of the village 
all assembled, looking out to sea at the fire-horse — the Ghukches 
would perhaps say fire-dog or fire-reindeer — which carried their 
friends of the long winter months for ever away from their 
cold, bleak shores. Whether they shed tears, as they often said 
they would, we could not see from the distance which now 
parted us from them. But it may readily have happened that 
the easily moved disposition of the savage led them to do this. 
Certain it is that in many of us the sadness of separation 
mingled with the feelings of tempestuous joy which now rushed 
through the breast of every Vega man. 

The Vega met no more ice-obstacles on her course to the 
Pacific. Serdze Kamen was passed at 1.30 A.M. of the 19th, but 
the fog was so dense that we could not clearly distinguish the 
contours of the land. Above the bank of mist at the horizon 
we could only see that this cape, so famous in the history of the 
navigation of the Siberian Polar Sea, is occupied by high 
mountains, split up, like those east of the Bear Islands, into 
ruin-like gigantic walls or columns. The sea was mirror-bright 
and nearly clear of ice, a walrus or two stuck up his head 
strangely magnified by the fog in our neighbourhood, seals swam 
round us in large numbers, and flocks of birds, which probably 
breed on the steep cliffs of Serdze Kamen, swarmed round the 
vessel. The trawl net repeatedly brought up from the sea- 
bottom a very abundant yield of worms, molluscs, Crustacea, &c. 
A zoologist would here have had a rich working field. 

The fog continued, so that on the other side of Serdze Kamen 
we lost all sight of land, until on the morning of the 20th dark 
heights again began to peep out. These were the mountain 
summits of the easternmost promontory of Asia, East Cape, an 
unsuitable name, for which I have substituted on the map that 
of Cape Deschnev after the gallant Cossack who for the first 
time 230 years ago circumnavigated it. 

By 11 A.M. we were in the middle of the sound which unites 




"^^ 



A.LoFAIAFBER 



XII ] THE NORTH-EAST PASSAGE ACHIEVED. 451 

the North Polar Sea with the Pacific, and from this point the 
Vega greeted the old and new worlds by a display of flags and 
the firing of a Swedish salute. 

Thus finally was reached the goal towards which so many 
nations had struggled, all along from the time when Sir Hugh 
Willoughby, with the firing of salutes from cannon and with 
hurrahs from the festive-clad seamen, in the presence of an 
innumerable crowd of jubilant men certain of success, ushered 
in the long series of North-East voyages. But, as I have before 
related, their hopes were grimly disappointed. Sir Hugh and all 
his men perished as pioneers of England's navigation and of 
voyages to -the ice-encumbered sea which bounds Europe and Asia 
on the north. Innumerable other marine expeditions have since 
then trodden the same path, always without success, and generally 
with the sacrifice of the vessel and of the life and health of 
many brave seamen. Now for the first time, after the lapse of 
836 years, and when most men experienced in sea matters had 
declared the undertaking impossible, was the North-East Passage 
at last achieved. This has taken place, thanks to the discipline, 
zeal, and ability of our man-of-war's-men and their officers, 
without the sacrifice of a single human life, without sickness 
among those who took part in the undertaking, without the 
shghtest damage to the vessel, and under circumstances which 
show that the same thing may be done again in most, perhaps 
in all years, in the course of a few weeks. It may be permitted 
us to say,- that under such circumstances it was with pride we 
saw the blue-yellow flag rise to the mast-head and heard the 
Swedish salute in the sound where the old and the new worlds 
reach hands to each other. The course along which we sailed 
is indeed no longer required as a commercial route between 
Europe and China. But it has been granted to this and the 
preceding Swedish expeditions to open a sea to navigation, and 
to confer on half a continent the possibility of communicating 
by sea with the oceans of the world. 



CHAPTEK XII. 

The history, pliysiqr.e, disposition, and manners of the Clmkches. 

The north coast of Siberia is now, with the exception of its 
westernmost and easternmost parts, literally a desert. In the 
west there projects between the mouth of the Ob and the 
southern portion of the Kara Sea the peninsula of Yalmal, 
which by its remote position, its grassy plains, and rivers 

G 2 



452 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

abounding in fish, appears to form the earthly paradise of the 
Samoyed of the present day. Some himdred famihes belongmg 
to this race wander about here with their numerous remdeer 
herds. During winter they withdraw to the mterior of the 
country or southwards, and the coast is said then to be unin- 
habited. This is the case both summer and winter, not only with 
Beli Ostrov and the farthest portion of the peninsula between 
the Ob and the Yenisej (Mattesol), but also with the long stretch 
of coast between the mouth of the Yenisej and Chaun Bay. 
Durino- the voyage of the Vega in 1878 we did not see a single 
native* No trace of man could be discovered at the places 
where we landed, and though for a long time we sailed quite 
near land, we saw from the sea only a single house on the shore 
viz. the before-mentioned wooden hut on the east side ot 
Chelyuskin peninsula. Russian simovies and native encamp- 
ments are indeed still found on the rivers some, distance from 
their mouths, but the former coast population has withdrawn to 
the interior of the country or died out,i and the north coast ot 
Asia first begins again to be inhabited at Chaun Bay, namely, 
by the tribe with whom we came in contact during the latter 
part of the coast voyage of the Vega in 1878 and during the 

wintering. , /. • x •+ 

I have already, it is true, given an account ot various traits 

1 The north coast o£ America still forms the haunt of a not incon- 
siderable Eskimo population which, for a couple of centuries has extended 
to the 80th decree of latitude. As the climate m the north part otthe 
Old World differs little from that which prevails in correspondmg regions 
of the New, as at both places there is an abundant supply of nsh, and as the 
seal and walrus hunting-at least between the Yenise] and the Chatanga- 
ought to be as productive as on the north coast of America, this difference, 
which has arisen only recently, is very strikiug^ It appears to me to be 
capable of explanation in the following way. Down to our days a large 
number of small savage tribes in America have carried on war with each 
other, the weaker, to escape extermination by the more powerful races, 
beina; compelled to flee to the ice deserts of the north, deeming themselves 
fortunate if they could there, in peace from their enemies, earn a living by 
adopting the mode of hfe of the Polar races, suitable as it is to the climate 
and resources of the land. The case was once the same m Siberia and 
there are many indications that fragments of i conquered tribes have 
been in former times driven up from the south, not only to the 
north coast of the mainland, but also beyond it to the islands lying 
off it In Siberia, however, for the last 250 years, the case has 
been completely changed by the Eussian conquest of the country. 
The pressure of the new government has, notwithstanding many smgle 
acts of violence, been on the whole less destructive to the original popu- 
lation than the influence which the Europeans have exerted m America. 
The Russian power has at least had a wholly beneficial influence, inasmuch 
ns it has prevented the continual feuds between the native races, ihe 
tHbes dri^n to the inhospitable North have been enabled to return to 
milder regions, and where this has not taken place they have, in tne 
Ssence of new migrations from the South, succumbed m the fig^t wi h c d, 
hunger, and small-pox, or other diseases introduced by their new masters. 



XII ] > EUSSIANS AND CHUKCHES. 453 

of the Cliukches' disposition and mode of life, but I believe at 
all events that a more exhaustive statement of what the Vega 
men experienced in this region will be interesting to my readers, 
even if in the course of it I am sometimes compelled to return 
to subjects of which I have already treated. 

In West-European writings the race, which inhabits the 
north-easternmost portion of Asia, is mentioned for the first 
time, so far as I know, by WiTSEN, who in the second edition of 
his work (1705, p. 671) quotes a statement by Yolodomir 
Atlassov, that the inhabitants of the northernmost portions of 
Siberia are called Tsjuktsi, without, however, giving any detailed 
description of the people themselves. In maps from the end of 
the seventeenth century names are still inscribed on this portion 
of land which were borrowed from the history of High Asia, as 
" Tenduc," " Quinsai," " Catacora," &c., but these are left out in 
VAN Keulen's atlas of 1709, and instead there stands here 
Zuczari. From about the same time we fall in with some 
accounts of the Chukches in the narrative of the distinguished 
painter CoRNELis DE Bruin's travels in Russia. A Russian 
merchant, MiCHAEL Ostatiof, who passed fourteen years in 
travelling in Siberia, gave de Bruin some information regarding 
the countries he had travelled through ; among others he spoke 
of Korahie and Soegtsie. The latter were sketched as a godless 
pack, who worship the devil and carry with them their fathers' 
bones to be used in their magical arts. The same Russian who 
made these statements had also come in contact with " stationary " 
(settled) Soegtsi, so called " because they pass the whole winter 
hibernating, lying or sitting in their tents." ^ I have found the 
first somewhat detailed accounts of the race in the note on page 
110 of the under-quoted work, Histoire genSalogique des Tartares, 
Leyden, 1726. They are founded on the statements of Swedish 
prisoners of war in Siberia. 

The Russians, however, had made a much earlier acquaintance 
with the Chukches ; for during their conquest of Siberia they 
came in contact with this race before the middle of the seven- 
teenth century. A company of hunters in 1646 sailed down the 
Kolyma river to the Polar Sea. East of the Kolyma they fell 
in with the Chukches, with whom they dealt in this way : they 
laid down their goods on the beach and then retired, on which 
the Chukches came thither, took the goods, and laid furs, walrus 
tusks, or carvings in walrus ivory, in their place. ^ How such 

^ Cornelis de Bruin, 'Reisen over Moslwvie, door Persie en Indie, &c., 
Amsterdam, 1711, p. 12. The author's name is also written De Bruyn 
and Le Brun. 

^ Herodotus already states in book iv. chapter 196, that the Cartha- 
genians bartered goods in the same way with a tribe living on the coast of 
Africa beyond the Gates of Hercules. The same mode of barter was still 
in use nearly two thousand years later, when the west coast of Africa 



454 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

journeys were repeated and finally led to the circumnavigation 
of the north-easternmost promontory of Asia belongs to a 
following chapter. 

During these journeys the Russians often came in contact 
with the tribe which inhabited the north-eastern part of Asia, a 
contact which in general was not of a friendly nature. The bold 
hunters who contributed powerfully to the conquest of Siberia, 
and who even at their own hand entered into conflicts with 
whole armies from the heavenly empire, appear not to have 
behaved well when confronted with the warriors of the Chukch 
race. Even the attempts that were made with professional 
soldiers to conquer the land of the Chukches were without 
result, less however, perhaps, on account of the armed opposition 
which the Chukches made than from the nature of the country 
and the impossibility of even a small body of troops supporting 
themselves. The following may be quoted as examples of these 
campaigns which throw light upon the former disposition and 
mode of life of this tribe. 

In 1701 some Yukagires who were tributary to Russia deter- 
mined to make an attack on the Chukches, and requested from 
the commandant at Anadyrsk assistance against these enemies. 
A body tof troops numbering twenty-four Russians and 110 
Yukagires, was accordingly sent on a campaign along the coast 
from Anadyrsk to Chukotskojnos. By the way they fell in with 
thirteen tents, inhabited by Chukches who owned no reindeer. 
The inhabitants were required to submit and pay tribute. This 
the Chukches refused to do, on which the Russians killed most 
of the men and took the women and children prisoners. The 
men who were not cut down killed one another, preferring death 
to the loss of freedom. Some days after there was another fight 
with 300 Chukches, which, however, was so unfortunate for the 
latter that 200 are said to have fallen. The rest fled, but 
returned next day with a force ten times as strong, which finally 
compelled the Russo-Yukagirean troop to return vdth their 
object unaccomplished. 

A similar camj)aign on a small scale was undertaken in 1711, 
but with the same issue. On a demand for tribute the Chukches 
answered : " the Russians have before come to vis to demand 
•tribute and hostages, but this we have refused to give, and thus 
we also intend to do in future." ^ 

About fifteen years after this resultless campaign the Cossack 
colonel Affanassej Schestakov proposed to the Government 

was visited by the Venetian Cadamosto, in 1454 (Ramusio, i., 1588, 
leaf 100). 

^ As security for the subjection of the conquered races, the Eussians 
were accustomed to take a number of men ;and women from their prin- 
cipal families as hostages. These persons were called ammwtes, and Avere 
kept in a sort of slavery at the fixed winter dwellings of the Russians. 



XII.] : PAULUTSKI'S CAMPAIGN. 455 

again to subdue this obstinate race, intending also to go over to 
the American side, yet known only by report, in order to render 
the races living there tributary to the Russians, The proposal 
was accepted. A mate, Jacob Hens, a land-measurer, Michael 
GvoSDEV, an ore-tester, HerdeboL, and ten sailors were 
ordered by the Admiralty to accompany the expedition. At 
Yekaterinenburg Schestakov was provided with some small 
cannon and mortars with ammunition, and at Tobolsk with 400 
Cossacks. In consequence of a great number of misfortunes, 
among them shipwreck in the sea of Okotsk, there stood how- 
ever bat a small portion of this force at his disposal when he 
began his campaign by marching into the country from the 
bottom of Penschina Bay. This campaign too was exceedingly 
unfortunate. After only a few days' march he came unexpect- 
edly on a large body of Chukches, who themselves had gone to 
war with the Koryaks. A fight took place on the ?^th March, 
1730, in which Schestakov himself fell, hit by an arrow, and his 
followers were killed or put to flight. 

Among those who were ordered to accompany Schestakov in 
this unfortunate campaign was Captain Dmitri Paulutski. 
Under his command a new camjDaign was undertaken against 
the Chukches. With a force of 215 Russians, 160 Cossacks and 
60 Yukagires, Paulutski left Anadyrsk on the ?|^^ March, 1731, 
and marched east of the sources of the Anadyr to the Polar Sea, 
which was only reached after two months' march. Then he 
went along the coast, partly by land, partly on the ice, to the 
eastward. After fourteen days he fell in with a large Chukch 
army, and having in vain summoned it to surrender, he 
delivered a blow on the "th June, and obtained a complete 
victory over the enemy. During the continuation of the 
campaign along the coast he was compelled to fight on two 
other occasions, one on the :^^4^ and the other on the ?^th July, 

' 30th Juue 14 J ' 

at Chukotskojnos itself, over which promontory he wished to 
march to the mouth of the Anadyr. In both cases the victory 
lay with the Russians, who, according to Miiller's account based 
on the official documents, in all three engagements lost only 
three Cossacks, one Yukagire and five Koryaks. But notwith- 
standing all these defeats the Chukches refused to submit and 
pay tribute to the Russians, on which account the only gain of 
the campaign was the honour of avenging Schestakov's defeat 
and of marching in triumph over Chukotskojnos. For this, ten 
days were required. On the promontory, hills of considerable 
height had to be passed. It appears as if Paulutski followed the 
shore of Kolyutschin Bay to the south, and then marched over 
the tongue of land which separates this bay from Anadyr Bay, 
or to express it otherwise, which unites the Chukch peninsula 
to the mainland of Siberia. 



456 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Many mistakes in comprehending the accounts of old travels 
to these regions have arisen from onr ignorance of the great 
southern extension of Kolyutschin Bay, and from the same 
name being frequently used to distinguish different places on 
the coasts of Siberia. Thus we find on the map by A. Arrow- 
smith annexed to Sauer's account of Billings' travels a Serdze 
. Kamen on -the south side of Chukch peninsula, and it was 
perhaps just this Serdze Kamen, known and so named by the 
dwellers on the Anadyr, that is mentioned in Miiller's account 
of Paulutski's campaign. 

On the ]^^ Paulutski returned to Anadyrsk, crowned with 
victory indeed, but without having brought his adversaries to 
lasting submission. No new attempt was made to induce the 
Chukches to submit, perhaps because Paulutski's camj)aign had 
rendered it evident that it was easier to win victories over the 
Chukches than to subdue them, and that the whole treasures of 
walrus tusks and skins belonging to the tribe would scarcely 
suffice to pay the expenses of the most inconsiderable 
campaign. 

Perhaps too the accounts of Paulutski's victories may not 
be quite correct, at least the old repute of Chukches as 
a brave and savage race remained undiminished. Thus we 
read in a note already quoted at page 110 of the Histoire 
yenSalogiqtie des Tartares : ^ " The north-eastern part of Asia is 
inhabited by two allied races, Tzuhtzchi and Tzchalatzki, and 
south of them on the Eastern Ocean by a third, called Olutorski. 
They are the most savage tribe in the whole north of Asia, and 
will have nothing to do with the Russians, whom they inhumanly 
kill when they fall in with them, and when any of them fall 
into the hands of the Russians they kill themselves." On the 
map of LoTTERUS (1765) the Chukch Peninsula is coloured in a 
way differing from Russian Siberia ; and there is the following 
inscription : TjithtzcM oiatio fcrocissinia et hdlicosa Bussorum 
inimica, qui capti se inviccm intcrficiunt. In 1777 Georgius 
says in his Bcschrcihung aller Nationen des Bussischcn Bciclis 
(part ii., p. 350) of the Chukches : " They are more savage, 
coarse, proud, refractory, thievish, false, and revengeful, than the 
neighbouring nomads the Koryaks. They are as bad and 
dangerous as the Tunguses are friendly. Twenty Chukches will 
beat fifty Koryaks. The Ostrogs (fortified places) lying in the 
neighbourhood of their country are even in continual fear of 

^ The work is a translation made at Tobolsk by Swedish officers, 
prisonersiof war from the battle of Paltava, from a Tartar manuscript by 
Abulgasi Bayadur Chan. The original manuscript (?) is in the librarj^ at 
Upsala, to which it was presented in 1722 by Lieutenant-Colonel Schon- 
strom. The translation has notes by Bentinck, a Dutchman by birth, who 
was also taken prisoner in the Swedish service at Pultava, 



xii.] , TEAVELLERS TO CHUKCH LAND. 457 

them, and cost so much that the Government has recently 
withdrawn the oldest Russian settlement in those regions, 
Anadyrsk." Other statements to the same effect might be 
quoted, and even in our day the Chukches are, with or with- 
out justification, known in Siberia for stubbornness, courage, and 
love of freedom. 

But what violence could not effect has been completely 
accomplished in a peaceful way.-"- The Chukches indeed do not 
pay any other taxes than some small market tolls, but a very 
active traffic is now carried on between them and the Russians, 
and many travellers have without inconvenience traversed their 
country, or have sailed along its pretty thickly inhabited coast. 

Among former travellers on the Chukch peninsula, who visited 
the encampments of the coast Chukches, besides Behring, Cook, 
and other seafarers, the following may be mentioned : — 

The Cossack, Peter Iliin Sin Popov, was sent in 1711 with 
two interpreters to examine the country of the Chukches, and 
has left some interesting accounts of his observations there 
(MtJLLER, Sammlung llussischer Geschichten, iii. p. 56).^ 

Billings, with his companions Sauer, Sarytschev, &c., 
visited Chukch-land in 1791. Among other things, accom- 
companied by Dr. Merk, two interpreters and eight men, he 
made a journey from Metschigme Bay over the interior of 
Chukch-land to Yakutsk. Unfortunately the account we 
have of this . remarkable journey is exceedingly incomplete.'' 

Perdinand von Wrangel during his famous Siberian 
travels was much in contact with the Chukches, and among his 
other journeys travelled in the winter of 1823 in dog sledges 
along the coast of the Polar Sea from the Kolyma to Kolyutschin 
Island (Wrangel, Eeise, ii. pp. 176-231). There are besides 



^ Liitke says (Erman's Archiv, iii. p. 464) that the peaceful relations 
with the Chukches began after the conclusion of a peace which was 
brought about ten years after the abandonment of Anadyrsk, where for 
thirty-six years there had been a garrison of 600 men, costing over a 
million roubles. This peace this formerly so quarrelsome people has 
kept conscientiously down to our days with the exception of some market 
brawls, which induced Treskin, Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, 
to conclude with them, in 1817, a commercial treaty which appears to have 
been faithfully adhered to, to the satisfaction and advantage of both 
parties {Dittmar, p. 128). 

^ Muller has likewise saved from oblivion some other accounts regarding 
the Chukches, collected soon after at Anadyrsk. When we now read these 
accounts, we find not only that the Chukches knew the Eskimo on the 
American side, but also stories regarding the Indians of Western America 
penetrated to them, and further, through the authorities in Siberia, came 
to Europe, a circumstance which deserves to be kept in mind in judging of 
the writings of Herodotus and Marco Polo. 

^ Sauer, A7i Account, &c., pp. 255 and 319. Sarytschev, Beise, ilherseizt 
von Busse. ii. p. 102. 



458 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

many notices of the Chukches at other places in the same 
work (i. pp. 267-293 ; ii. pp. 156, 168, &c.). 

Friedrich von LtJTKE in the course of his circumnavigation 
of the globe in 1826-29, came in contact with the population 
of the Chukch peninsula, whom he described in detail in 
Erman's ArcMv (iii. pp. 446-464). Here it ought to be noted 
that, while the population on the North coast consists of true 
Chukches, the coast population of the region which Liitke visited, 
the stretch between the Anadyr and Cape Deschnev consists ol' 
a tribe, Namollo, which differs from the Chukches, and is 
nearly allied to the Eskimo on the American side of 
B eh ring's Straits. 

The English Franklin Expedition in the Plover, commanded 
by Captain Moore, wintered in 1848-49 at Chukotskojnos, and, 
both at the winter station and in the course of extensive 
excursions with dogs along the coast and to the interior of the 
country, came much into contact with the natives. The ob- 
servations made during the wintering were published in a work 
of great importance for a knowledge of the tribes in question 
by Lieutenant W. H. Hooper, Ten Months among the Tents of 
the Tuski, London, 1853. 

C. VON DiTTMAR^ travelled in 1853 in the north part of 
Kamchatka, and there came in contact with the reindeer 
nomads, especially with the Koryiiks. The information he 
gives us about the Chukches (p. 126) he had obtained from the 
Nischni-Kolymsk merchant, Trifonov, who had traded with 
them for twenty-eight years, and had repeatedly travelled in the 
interior of the country. 

Interesting contributions to a knowledge of the mode of living 
of the reindeer-Chukches were also collected by Baron G. VON 
Maydell, who, in 1868 and 1869, along with Dr. Carl von 
Neumann and others, made a journey from Yakutsk by Sredni- 
Kolymsk and Anjui to Kolyutschin Bay. Unfortunately, with 
regard to this exjoedition, I have only had access to some notices 
in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Socictij (vol. 21, 
London 1877, p. 213), and- Das Ausland (1880, p. 861). The 
proper sketch of the jovirney is to be found in Isvcstija, published 
by the Siberian division of the Russian Geographical Society, 
parts 1 and 2. 

With reference to the other travellers whose writings are 
usually quoted as sources for a knowledge of the Chukches, it 
may be mentioned that Steller and Krascheninnikov only 
touch in passing on the true Chukches, but instead give very 
instructive and detailed accounts of the Koryiiks, who are as 

^ Uber die Kor'idhen und die ihnen seJir nahe venoandten TschuMschen 
(Bulletin liistorico-philologique de rAcadeinie de St. Petersbourg, t. xiii., 
1856, p. 126.) 



XII.] > THE COAST AND EEINDEEE CHUKCHES. 459 

nearly allied to the Cliukches as the Spaniards to the Portuguese, 
but yet differ considerably in their mode of life ; also that 
a part of these authors' statements regarding the Chukches do 
not at all refer to that tribe, but to the Eskimo. It appears 
indeed that recently, after the former national enmity had 
ceased, mixed races have arisen among these tribes. But it 
ought not to be forgotten that they differ widely in origin, 
although the Chukches as coming at a later date to the coast 
of the Polar Sea have adopted almost completely the hunting 
implements and household furniture of the Eskimo; and the 
Eskimo again, in the districts where they come in contact with 
the Chukches, have adopted various things from their language. 
Like the Lapps and most other European and Asiatic Polar 
races, the Chukches fall into two divisions speaking the same 
language and belonging to the same race, but differing con- 
siderably in their mode of life. One division consists of reindeer 
nomads, who, with their often very numerous reindeer herds, 
wander about between Behring's Straits, and the Indigirka 
and the Penschina Bays. They live by tending reindeer and 
by trade, and consider themselves the chief part of the Chukch 
tribe. The other division of the race are the coast Chukches, 
who do not own any reindeer, but live in fixed but easily 
movable and frequently moved tents along the coast between 
Chaun Bay and Behring's Straits. But beyond East Cape there 
is found along the coast of Behring's Sea another tribe, nearly 
allied to the Eskimo. This is Wrangel's Onldlon, Liitke's 
Namollo. Now, however, Chukches also have settled at several 
points on this line of coast, and a portion of the Eskimo have 
adopted the language of the superior Chukch race. Thus the 
inhabitants at St. Lawrence Bay spoke Chukch, with little 
mixture of foreign words, and differed in their mode of life and 
appearance only inconsiderably from the Chukches, whom 
during the course of the winter we learned to know from nearly 
all parts of the Chukch peninsula. The same was the case with 
the natives who came on board the Vega while we sailed past 
East Cape, and with the two families we visited in Konyam Bay. 
But the natives in the north-west part of St. Lawrence Island 
talked an Eskimo dialect, quite different from Chukch. There 
were, however, many Chukch words incorporated with it. At 
Port Clarence on the contrary there lived pure Eskimo. Among 
them we found a Chukch woman who informed us that there 
were Chukch villages also on the American side of Behring's 
Strait, north of Prince of Wales Cape. These cannot, however, 
be very numerous or populous, as they are not mentioned in the 
accounts of the various English expeditions to those regions ; 
they are not noticed for instance in Dr. John Simpson's 
instructive memoir on the Eskimo at Behring's Straits. 



460 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

We were unable during the voyage of the Vega to obtain any 
data for estimating the number of the reindeer-Chukches. But 
the number of the coast Chukches may be arrived at in the follow- 
ing way. Lieutenant Nordquist collected from the numerous 
foremen who rested at the Vega information as to the names 
of the encampments which are to be found at present on the 
coast between Chaun Bay and Behring's Straits, and the number 
of tents at each village. He thus ascertained that the number 
of the tents in the coast villages amounts to about 400. The 
number of inhabitants in every tent may be, according to our 
experience, averaged at five. The population on the line of coast 
in question may thus amount to about 2,000, at most to 2,500, 
men, women, and children. The number of the reindeer-Chukches 
appears to be about the same. The whole population of Chukch 
Land may thus now amount to 4,000 or 5,000 persons. The 
Cossack Popov already mentioned, reckoned in 1711 that all the 
Chukches, both reindeer-owning and those with fixed dwellings, 
numbered 2,000 persons. Thus during the last two centuries, 
if these estimates are correct, this Polar race has doubled its 
numbers. 

In order to give the reader an idea of the language of the 
Chukches, I have in a preceding chapter given an extract from 
the large vocabulary which Nordquist has collected. There 
appear to be no dialects differing very much from each other. 
Whether foreign words borrowed from other Asiatic languages 
have been adopted in Chukch we have not been able to make 
out. It is certain that no Russian words are used. The language 
strikes me as articulate and euphonious. It is nearly allied to 
the Koryak, but so different from other, both East- Asiatic and 
American, tongues, that philologists have not yet succeeded in 
clearing up the relationship of the Chukches to other races. 

Like most other Polar tribes, the Chukches now do not belong 
to any unmixed race. This one is soon convinced of, if he con- 
siders attentively the inhabitants of a large tent-village. Some 
are tall, with tallowlike, raven-black hair, brown complexion, 
high aquiline nose — in short, with an exterior that reminds us 
of the descriptions we read of the North American Indians. 
Others again by their dark hair, slight beard, sunk nose or 
rather projecting cheek-bones and oblique eyes, remind us 
distinctly of the Mongolian race ; and finally we meet among 
them with very fair faces, with features and complexion which 
lead us to suspect that they -are descendants of runaways or 
prisoners of war of purely Russian origin. The most common 
type is — straight, coarse, black hair of moderate length; the 
brow tapering upwards ; the nose finely formed, but with its 
root often flattened : eyes by no means small ; well-developed 
black eyebrows; projecting cheeks often swollen by frostbite, 



xn.] IIAEDINESS OF THE CHUKCHES. 461 

which is specially observable when the face is looked at from the 
side ; light, slightly brown complexion, which in the young women 
is often nearly as red and white as in Europeans. The beard is 
always scanty. Xearly all are stout and well grown ; we saw no 
cripples among them. The young women often strike one as 
very pretty if one can rid'oneself of the unpleasant impression of 
the dirt, which is never washed away but by the drifting snow of 
winter, and of the nauseous train-oil odour which in winter they 
carry with them from the close tent-chamber. The children 
nearly always make a pleasant impression by their healthy 
appearance, and their friendly and becoming behaviour. 

The Chukches are a hardy race, but exceedingly indolent 
when want of food does not force them to exertion. The men 
during their hunting excursions pass whole days in a cold of 
-^-30° to —40° out upon the ice, without protection and without 
carrying with them food or fuel. In such cases they slake their 
thirst with snow, and assuage their hunger, if they have been suc- 
cessful in hunting, with the blood and flesh of the animals they 
have killed. Women nearly naked often during severe cold leave 
for a while the inner tent, or tent-chamber, where the tram-oil 
lamp maintains a heat that is at times oppressive. A foreigner's 
visit induces the completely naked children to half creep out from 
under the curtain of reindeer skin which separates the sleeping 
chamber from the exterior tent, in which, as it is not heated, the 
temperature is generally little higher than that of the air outside. 
In this temperature the mothers do not hesitate to show their 
naked children, one or two years of age, to visitors for some 
moments. 

Diseases are notwithstanding uncommon, with the exception 
that in autumn, before the severe cold commences, nearly all 
suffer from a cough and cold. Very bad skin eruptions and 
sores also occur so frequently that a stay in the inner tent is 
thereby commonly rendered disgusting to Europeans. Some of 
the sores however are merely frostbites, which most Chukches 
bring on themselves by the carelessness with which during 
high winds they expose the bare neck, breast, and wrists to 
the lowest temperature. When frostbite has happened it is 
treated, even though of considerable extent, with extreme care- 
lessness. They endeavour merely to thaw the frozen place as fast 
as possible partly by chafing, partly by heating. On the other 
hand we never saw any one who had had a deep frostbite on the 
hands or feet, a circumstance which must be ascribed to the 
serviceable nature of their shoes and gloves. From the beginning 
of October 1878 to the middle of July 1879 no death appears 
to have happened at any of the encampments near us. During 
the same time the number of the inhabitants was increased by 
two or three births. During the wife's pregnancy the husband 





^'" ' ^.^^v^^f/^'^^' 




TYPICAL CHUKCH FACES. 



(After pliotogxaphs by L. Palander.) 




lYPICAL CHURCH FACES 



1. 2. Kautsing. ;i. woman from Pitlekaj. 3, 4. Rotschitlen. 5. Young man from Vankarema. 
6. Young man from Irgunnuk. 

(After photograplis by L. Palander.) 



464 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [(:hap. 

was very affectionate to her, gave her his constant company in 
the tent, kissed and fondled her frequently in the presence of 
strangers, and appeared to take a pride in showing her to 
visitors. 

We had no opportunity of witnessing any burial or marriage. 
It appears as if the Chukches sometimes burn their dead, sonae- 
times expose them on the tundra as food for. beasts of prey, with 
weapons, sledges, and household articles. They have perhaps 
begun to abandon the old custom of burning the dead, since the 
hunting has fallen off so that the supply of blubber for burning 
has diminished. I have before described the pits filled with 
burned bones which Dr. Stuxberg found on the 9th September, 
1878, by the bank of a dried-up rivulet. We took them for 
graves, but not having seen any more at our winter station, we 
began to entertain doubts as to the correctness of our observa- 
tion.i It is at least certain that the inhabitants of Pitlekaj 
exclusively bury their dead by laying them out on the tundra. 



— 




sv 



PLAN OF A CHUKCH GRAVE. 

After a drawing by A. Stuxberg.) 

Regarding the man, buried or exposed in this way, whom 
Johnsen found on the 15th October, Dr. Almquist, who himself 
visited the place the next day, makes the following statement : — 

" The place was situated five to seven kilometres from the 
village Yinretlen, near the bottom of the little valley which 
runs from this village in a southerly direction into the interior. 
The body was exposed on a little low knoll only two fathoms 
across. It was covered with loose snow, and was not frozen very 
hard. When it was loosened there was no proper pit to be seen in 
the underlying snow and ice. The corpse lay from true N.N.W. 
to S.S.E., with the head to the former quarter. Under the head 
lay two black rounded stones, such as the Chukches use in 

1 That the Chukches burn their dead with various ceremonies is stated 
by Sarytschev on the ground of communications by the interpreter Daurkin, 
who lived among the reindeer-Chukches from 1787 to 1791, in order to 
learn their language and customs, and to announce the arrival of Billings' 
expedition (Sarytschev's Reise, ii. p. 108). The statement is thus certainly 
quite trustworthy. The coast population with whom Hooper came in 
contact, on the other hand, laid out their dead on special stages, where 
the corpses were allowed to be eaten up by ravens or to decay {loc. cit. 
p. 88). 



XI t.] CHUKCH GEAVES. 465 

housekeeping. Besides these there was no trace of anything 
underlying or covering the corpse. The clothes had been torn 
by beasts of prey from the body ; the back was quite untouched, 
but the face and breast were much wasted, and the arms and 
legs almost wholly eaten up. On the knoll evident traces of 
the wolf, the fox, and the raven were visible. Close to the 
right side of the corpse had lain the weapons which Johnsen had 
brought home the day before. Near the feet was found a sledge 
completely broken in pieces, evidently new and smashed on the 
spot. Not far off, we found lying on the snow pieces of a pesh 
and of foot-coverings, both new and of the finest quality. 
Beasts of prey had undoubtedly torn them off and pulled them 
about. On the knoll there were found besides five or six other 
graves, distinguished by small stones or a wooden block lying on 
the even ground. Two of the graves were ornamented by a 
collection of reindeer horns. The severe cold prevented me 
from ascertaining whether these stones concealed the remains 
of buried corpses. I considered that I might take the Chukch's 
head, as otherwise the wolves would doubtless have eaten it up. 
It was taken on board and skeletonised." 

In the spring of 1879, after the snow was melted, we had 
further opportunities of seeing a large number of burying- 
places, or more correctly of places where dead Chukches had 
been laid out. They were marked by stones placed in a peculiar 
way, and were measured and examined in detail by Dr. Stuxberg, 
who gives the following description of them : — 

" The Chukch graves on the heights south of Pitlekaj and 
Yinretlen, which were examined by me on the 4th and 7th 
July, 1879, were nearly fifty in number. Every grave consisted 
of an oval formed of large lying stones. At one end there was 
generally a large stone raised on its edge, and from the opposite 
end there went out one or two pieces of wood lying on the 
ground. The area within the stone circle was sometimes over- 
laid with small stones, sometimes free and overgrown with grass. 
At all the graves, at a distance of four to seven paces from the 
stone standing on its edge in the longitudinal axis of the grave 
or*a little to the side of it, there was another smaller circle of 
stones inclosing a heap of reindeer horns, commonly containing 
also broken seals' skulls and other fragments of bones. Only 
in one grave were found pieces of human bones. The graves 
were evidently very old, for the bits of wood at the ends were 
generally much decayed and almost wholly covered with earth, 
and the stones were completely overgrown with lichens on the 
upper side. I estimate the age of these graves at about two 
hundred years." 

fl H 



466 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



The Chukches do not dwell in snow huts, nor in wooden 
houses, because wood for building is not to be found in the 
country of the coast Chukches, and because wooden houses are 
unsuitable for the reindeer nomad. They live summer and 
winter in tents of a peculiar construction, not used by any other 
race. For in order to afford protection from the cold the tent is 
double ; the outer envelope inclosing an inner tent or sleeping 
chamber. This has the form of a parallelepiped, about 3 5 
metres long, 2'2 metres broad, and 1'8 metre high. It is sur- 
rounded by thick, warm, reindeer skins, and is further covered 
with a layer of grass. The floor consists of a walrus skin 
stretched over a foundation of twigs and straw. At night the 
floor is covered with a carpet of reindeer skins, which is taken 
away during the day. The rooms at the sides of the inner tent 
are also shut off by curtains, and serve as pantries. The inner tent 




TENT FRAME AT PITLEKAJ. 

(After a drawing by G. Bove,) 



is warmed by three train-oil lamps, which together with the heat 
given off by the numerous human beings packed together in the 
tent, raise the temperature to such a height that the inhabitants 
even during the severest winter cold may be completely naked. 
The work of the women and the cooking are carried on in winter in 
this tent-chamber, very often also the calls of nature are obe3»ed 
in it. All this conduces to make the atmosphere prevailing there 
unendurable. There are also, however, cleanlier families, in 
whose sleeping chamber the air is not so disgusting. 

In summer they live during the day, and cook and work, in 
the outer tent. This consists of seal and walrus skins sewed 
together, which however are generally so old, hairless, and full 
of holes, that they appear to have been used by several genera- 
tions. The skins of the outer tent are stretched over wooden 



XII.] CHUKCHES' TENTS. 467 

ribs, which are carefully bound together by thongs of skin. 
The ribs rest partly -on posts, partly on tripods of driftwood. 
The posts are driven into the ground, and the tripods get the 
necessary steadiness by a heavy stone or a seal-skin ■ sack filled 
with sand being suspended from the middle of them. In order 
further to steady the tent a yet heavier stone is in the same 
way suspended by a strap from the top of the tent-roof, or the 
summit of the roof is made fast to the ground by thick 
thongs. At one place a tackle from a wrecked vessel was 
used for this purpose, being tightened with a block between 
the top of the roof and an iron hook frozen into the ground. 
The ribs in every tent are besides supported by T-formed 
cross stays. 

The entrance consists of a low door, which, when necessary, 
may be closed with a reindeer skin. The floor of the outer 
tent consists of the bare ground. This is kept very clean, and 
the few household articles are hung up carefully and in an 
orderly manner along the walls on the inner and outer sides of 
the tent. Near the tent are some posts, as high as a man, 
driven into the ground, vdth cross pieces on which skin boats, 
oars, javelins, &c., are laid, and from which fishing and seal nets 
are suspended. 

In the neighbourhood of the dwellings the storehouse is placed. 
It consists of a cellar excavated at some suitable place. The 
sites of old Onkilon dwellings are often used for this purpose. 
The descent is commonly covered with pieces of driftwood which 
are loaded with stones ; at one place the door, or rather the 
hatch, of the cellar consisted of a whale's shoulder-blade. In 
consequence of the unlimited confidence which otherwise was 
wont to prevail between the natives and us, we were surprised 
to find them unwilling to give the Vega men admittance to 
their storehouses. Possibly the report of our excavations for 
old implements at the sites of Onkilon dwellings at Irkaipij had 
spread to Kolyutschin, and been interpreted as attempts at 
plunder. 

The tents were always situated on the sea shore, generally on 
the small neck of land which separates the strand lagoons from 
the sea. They are erected and taken down in a few hours. A 
Chukch family can therefore easily change its place of residence, 
and does remove very often from one village to another. Some- 
times it appears to own the wooden frame of a tent at several 
places, and in such cases at removal there are taken along 
only the tent covering, the dogs, and the most necessary skin 
and household articles. The others are left without inclosure, 
lock, or watch, at the former dwelling-place, and one is certain 
to find all untouched on his return. During short stays at 
a place there are used, even when the temperature of the air 

H H 2 



468. THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

is considerably under the freezing-point, exceedingly defective 
tents or huts made with the skin boats that may happen to 
be available. Thus a young couple who returned in spring to 
Pitlekaj lived happy and content in a single thin and ragged 
tent or conical skin hut which below where it was broadest was 
only two and a half metres across. An accurate inventory, 
which I took during the absence of the- newly married pair, 
showed that their Avhole household furniture consisted of a bad 
lamp, a good American axe, some reindeer skins, 
a small piece of mirror, a great many empty 
preserve tins from the Vega, which among other 
things were used for cooking, a fire-drill, a comb, 
leather for a pair of moccasins, some sewing im- 
plements, and some very incomplete and defective 
tools. 

The boats are made of walrus skin, sewed together 
and stretched over a light frame -work of wood and 
pieces of bone. The different parts of the frame- 
work are bound together with thongs of skin or 
strings of whalebone. In form and size the 
Chukches' large boat, athimt, called by the 
Russians haydar, corresponds completely with the 
Greenlander's umiak or woman's boat. It is so 
light that four men can take it upon their 
shoulders, and yet so roomy that thirty men can 
be conveyed in it. One seldom sees anatkuat, or 
boats intended for only one man ; they are much 
worse built and uglier than the Greenlander's 
kayak. The large boats are rowed with broad- 
bladed oars, of which every man or woman 
manages only one. By means of these oars a 
sufficient number of rowers can for a little raise 
the speed of the boat to ten kilometres per hour. 
Like the Greenlanders, however, they often cease 
rowing in order to rest, laugh, and chatter, then 
row furiously for some minutes rest themselves 
again, row rapidly, and so on. When the sea is 
covered with thin newly formed ice they put two 
CHUKCH OAR. T^Qn [n the foro of the boat with one lesf over 

Oiie-sixteeiitn of . i , i i j i • • • 

■ the natmai size, m Order to trample the ice m pieces. 

During winter the boats are laid up, and instead 
the dog-sledges are put in order. These are of a different con- 
struction from the Greenland sledges, commonly very light and 
narrow, made of some flexible kind of wood, and shod with plates 
of whales' jawbones, whales' ribs, or whalebone. In order to im- 
prove the running, the runners before the start are carefully 
covered with a layer of ice from two or three millimetres in 



XII.] ■ DOG SLEDGES. 469 

thickness by repeatedly pouring water over tliem.^ The dif- 
ferent parts of the sledge are not fastened together by nails, but 
are bound together by strips of skin or strings of whalebone. 
On the low uncomfortable seat there commonly lies a piece of 
skin, generally of the Polar bear. The number of dogs that are 
harnessed to each sledge is variable. I have seen a Chukch 
riding behind two small lean dogs, who however appeared to 
draw their heavy load over even hard snow without any extra- 
ordinary exertion. At other sledges I have seen ten or twelve 
dogs, and a sledge laden with goods was drawn by a team of 
twenty-eight. The dogs are generally harnessed one pair before 
another to a long line common to all,^ sometimes in the case of 
short excursions more than two abreast, or so irregularly that 
their position in relation to the sledge appears to have depended 
merely on the accidental length of the draught-line and the 
caprice of the driver. The dogs are guided not by reins but by 
continual crying and shouting, accompanied by lashes from a 
long whip. There is, besides, in every properly equipped sledge 
a short and thick staff mounted with iron, with a number 
of iron rings attached to the upper end. When nothing else 
will do, this staff is thrown at the offending animal. The staff 
is so heavy that the animal may readily get its death by such a 
throw. The dogs know this, and in consequence are so afraid of 
this grim implement that the rattling of the rings is sufficient 
to induce them to put forth extreme efforts. During rests the 
team is tied to the staff, which is driven into the snow. ■ 

The dog harness is made of inch-wide straps of skin, forming 
a neck or shoulder band, united on both sides by a strap to a 
girth, to one side of which the draught strap is fastened. 
Thanks to the excellent protection against the harness galling 
which the bushy coat of the dogs affords, little attention is 
needed for the harness, and I have never seen a single dog that 
was idle in consequence of sores from the harness. On the 
other hand, their feet are often hurt by the sharp snow. On 
this account the equipment of every sledge embraces a number 

■'• If the runners are not shod with ice in this way the friction between 
them and the hard snow is very great during: severe cold, and the draught 
accordingly exceedingly heavy. 

2 Nearly all the travellers from a great distance who passed the Vega 
had their dogs harnessed in this way. On the other hand, Sarytschev says 
that at St. Lawrence Bay all the dogs were harnessed abreast, and that this 
was the practice at Moore' s winter quarters at Chukotskojnos is shown by 
the drawing at p. 71 of Hooper's work, already quoted. We ought to 
remember that at both these places the population were Eskimos who 
had adopted the Chukch language. The Greenland Eskimo have their 
dogs harnessed abreast, the Kainchadales in a long row. Naturally dogs 
harnessed abreast are unsuitable for wooded regions. The different 
methods of harnessing dogs mentioned here, therefore, indicate that the 
Eskimo have lived longer than the Chukches north of the limit, of trees. 



470 



THE VOYAGK OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



of dog shoes of the appearance shown in the accompanying 
woodcut. They are used only in case of need. 

The Chukch dogs are of the same breed, but smaller, than 
the Eskimo dogs in Danish Greenland. They resemble wolves, 
axe long-legged, hnig-haired, and shaggy. The ears are short, 
eoniiiu^nly u})right ; their colour very variable, from black or 
wliite, and black or white spotted, to grey or yellowish-bn)wn. 
For innumerable generations they have been used as draught 
animals, while as watch dogs they have not been required in a 
country where theft or robbery appears never to take place. 
The power of barking they have therefore completely lost, or 
perhaps they never possessed it. Even a European may come 
into the outer tent without any of the dogs there informing 
their owners sleeping in the inner tent by a sound of the 
foreigner's arrival. 

On the other hand, they are good though slow draught 
animals, being capable of long-continued exer- 
tion. They are as dirty and as peaceable 
as their owners. There are no fights made 
between dog-teams belonging to different 
tents, and they are rare between the dogs of 
an encampment and those of strangers. In 
Europe dogs are the friends of their masters 
and tlie enemies of each other ; here they 
are the friends of each other and the slaves 
of their masters. In winter they appear 
in case of necessity to get along Avith very 
little food ; they are then exceedingly lean, 
and for the most part lie motionless in some 
snow-drift. They seldom leave the neighbour- 
hood of the tent alone, not even to search for 
at their own hand and for their own account, 
to me so much the more remarkable, as they 
are often several days, I am inclined to say weeks, in suc- 
cession without getting an}'' food from their masters. A 
})iece of a whale, with the skin and part of the flesh 
adhering, washed out of frozen sandy strata thus lay un- 
touc-hod some thousand paces from Pitlekaj ; and the neigh- 
bourhood of the tents, where the hungry dogs were constantly 
wandering about, formed, as has been already stated, a favourite 
haunt for ptarmigan and hares during winter. Young dogs 
some months old are already harnessed along with the team in 
order that they may in time become accustomed to the draught 
tackle. During the cold season the dogs are permitted to live 
in the outer tout, the fen\ales with tlieir young even in the 
inner. We had two Scotch collies with us on the Vi-(/a. They 
at first frightened the natives very much with their bai'k. 




,ni)(3 SltOE. 

Ono-thinl of tho 
iialiiral sizo. 



food or hunt 
This appeal's 



XII.] . CHUKCH DOGS. 471 

To the dogs of Chukches they soon took the same superior 
standing as the European claims for himself in relation to the 
savage. The dog was distinctly preferred by the female Chukch 
canine population, and that too without the fights to which 
such favour on the part of the fair commonly gives rise. A 
numerous canine progeny of mixed Scotch-Chukch breed has 
thus arisen at Pitlekaj. The young dogs had a complete 
resemblance to their father, and the natives were quite charmed 
with them. 

When a dog is to be killed the Chukch stabs it with his 
spear, and then lets it bleed to death. Even when the scarcity 
was so great that the natives at Pitlekaj and Yinretlen lived 
mainly on the food we gave them, they did not eat the dogs 
they killed. On the other hand they had no objection to eating 
a shot crow. 

When the Chukch goes out on the ice to hunt seals he takes 
his dogs with him, and it is these which take home the catch, 
commonly with the draught-line fastened directly to the head 
of the killed seal, which is then turned on its back and dragged 
over the ice without anything under it. One of the inhabi- 
tants of Yinretlen returned from the open water off the coast 
after a successful hunting expedition with five seals, of which 
the smallest was laid on the sledge, the others being fastened 
one behind the other in a long row. After the last was drawn 
a long pole, which was used in setting the net. 

The dress of the Chukches is made of reindeer or seal-skin. 
The former, because it is warmer, is preferred as material for 
the winter dress. The men in winter are clad in two pesks ; 
that which is worn next the body is of thin skin with the hair 
inwards, the outer is of thick skin with the hair outwards. 
Besides, they wear, when it rains or wet snow falls, a great coat 
of gut or of cotton cloth, which they call calico. On one oc- 
casion I saw such an overcoat made of a kind of reindeer- 
chamois leather, which was of excellent quality and evidently 
of home manufacture. It had been originally white, but was or- 
namented with broad brown painted borders. Some red and blue 
woollen shirts which we gave them were also worn above the 
skin clothes, and by their showy colours awakened great satisfac- 
tion in the owners. The Chukch pesk is shorter than the Lapp 
one. It does not reach quite to the knees, and is confined at 
the waist with a belt. Under the pcsJc are worn two pairs of 
trousers, the inner pair with the hair inwards, and the outer with 
the hair outwards. The trousers are well made, close fitting, and 
terminate above the foot. The foot-covering consists of reindeer 
or seal-skin moccasins, which above the foot are fastened to 
the trousers in the way common among the Lapps. The soles 
are of walrus-skin or bear-skin, and have the hair side inwards. 



472 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAP. 



On the other parts of the moccasin the hair is outwards. Within 
the shoes are seal-skin stockings and hay. The head covering- 
consists of a hood embroidered with beads, over which in severe 
cold is drawn an outer hood bordered with dog-skin. The outer 
hood is often quite close under the chin, and extends in a very 
well-fitting way over the shoulders. To a complete dress there 
also belong a skin neckerchief or boa, and" a neck covering of 
multiple reindeer-skins, or of different kinds of skins sewn 
together in chess-board-like squares.. In summer and far into 
the autumn the men go bareheaded, although they clip the hair 
on the crown of the head close to the root. 

During the warm season of the year a number of the winter 
wraps are laid off in proportion to the increase of the heat, so 




CHVKCH FACE-TATTOOING. 

(After a drawing by A. Stuxberg.) 



that the dress finally consists merely of a pesk, an overcoat, and 
a pair of trousers. The summer moccasins are often as long in 
the leg as our sea-boots. In the tent the men wear only short 
trousers reaching to the hip, together with leather belts (health- 
belts) at the waist and on the arms. The man's dress is not 
much ornamented. On the other hand the men often wear 
strings of beads in the ears, or a skin band set with large, 
tastefully arranged beads or a leather band with some large 
beads on the brow. The leather band they will not willingly 
part with, and a woman told us that the beads in it indicate 
the number of enemies the wearer has killed. I am, however, 
quite certain that this was only an empty boast. Probably our 



XII.] , 



CHUKCH DRESS. 



473 



informant referred to a tradition handed down from former war- 
like periods to the present time, and thus we have here only a 
Chukch form of the boasting about martial feats common even 
among civilised nations. 

To the dress of the men there belongs further a screen for the 
eyes, which is often beautifully ornamented with beads and 
silver mounting. This screen is worn especially in spring as a 
protection from the strong sunlight reflected from the snow- 
plains. At this season of the year snow-blindness is very 
common, but notwithstanding this snow-spectacles of the kind 
which the Eskimo and even the Samoyeds use are unknown 
here. 





CHUKCH CHILDREN. 



Gill from Irgtmnnk. (After a photograph by L. Palander.) 6. Boy from Pitlekaj, with his 
mother's hood on. (After a drawing by the seaman Hansson.) 



The men are not tattooed, but have sometimes a black or red 
cross painted on the cheek. They wear the hair cut close to 
the root, with the exception of a short tuft right on the crown 
of the head and a short fringe above the brow. The women 
have long hair, parted right in the middle, and plaited along 
with strings of beads into plaits which hang down by the 
ears. They are generally tattooed on the face, sometimes also 
on the arms or other parts of the body. The tattooing is done 
by degrees ; possibly certain lines are first made at marriage. 

The dress of the women, like that of the men, is double 
during winter. The outer 2'>^sh, which is longer and wider than 



474 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap . 



the man's, passes downwards into a sort of very wide trousers. 
The sleeves too are exceedingly wide, so that the arm may easily 
be drawn in and stuck out. Under the outer pcsk there is an 
inner pcsh, or skin-shirt, and under them a pair of very short 
trousers is worn. Where the oiiter pcsk ends the moccasins 
begin. At the neck the pcsh is much cut away, so that a part 
of the back is bare. I have seen girls go with the upper part 
of the back exposed in this way even in a cold of- 30° or — 40°. 
The stockings have the hair inwards, they are bordered with 
dog-skin, and go to the knees. The moccasins, chin-covers, 
hoods, and neckerchiefs differ little from the corresponding 
articles of men's dress. The woman's dress is in general more 
ornamented than the man's, and the skins used for it aj)pear to 
be more carefully chosen and prepared. In the inner tent the 
women go nearly naked, only with quite short uuder-trousers of 
skin or calico or a narrow cingulum pudiciticc. On the naked 




SNOW-SHOES. 

a. The common kind. h. Intended to be nsed in the way shown in the drawing on tlio 
opposite page. 

(One-thirteenth of the natural size.) 

body there are worn besides one or two leather bands on one 
arm, a leather band on the throat, another round the waist, and 
some bracelets of iron or less frequently of copper on the wrists. 
The younger women however do not like to show themselves in 
this dress to foreigners, and they therefore hasten at their 
entrance to cover the lower part of the body with the pcsk, or 
some other piece of dress that may be at hand. 

When the children are some years old they get the same 
dress as their parents, different for boys and girls. While small 
they are put into a wide skin covering with the legs and arms 
sewed together downwards. Behind there is a four-cornered 
opening through which moss (the white, dead part of 
Sphagnum), intended to absorb the excreta, is put in and 
changed. At the ends of the arms two loops are fastened, 
through which the child's legs are passed when the mother 



xii.]^ " SNOW-SHOES. 475 

wishes to put it away in some corner of the tent. The dress 
itself appears not to be changed until it has become too small. 
In the inner tent the children go completely naked. 

Both men and women use snow-shoes during winter. With- 
out them they will not willingly undertake any long walk in 
loose snow.' They consider such a walk so tiresome, that they 
loudly commiserated one of my crew, who had to walk without 
snow-shoes after drifting weather from the village Yinretlen to 
the vessel, about three kilometres distant. Finally a woman's 
compassion went so far that she presented him with a pair ; an 
instance of generosity on the part of our Chukcli friends which 
otherwise was exceedingly rare. The frame of the snow-shoes 
is made of wood, the cross-j)ieces are of strong and well-stretched 
thongs. This snow-shoe corresponds completely with that of 
the Indians, and is exceedingly serviceable and easy to get 




AN AINO MAI* 8KATINO AFTER A REINDEER. 

(Jiil)uiie,su drawing.) 



accustomed to. Another implement for travelling over snow 
was offered by a Chukch who drove past the vessel in the 
beginning of February. It consisted of a pair of immensely 
wide skates of thin wood, covered with seal-skin, and raised at 
both sides. I had difficulty in understanding how these broad 
shapeless articles could be used with advantage until I learned 
from the accompanying drawing that they may be employed as 
a sort of sledges. The drawing is taken from a Japanese work, 
whose title when trnnslated runs thus : A Journey to the 
north part of Japan (Yezo), 1804 (No. 565 of the Japanese 
library I brought home with me). 

In consequence of the difficulty which the Chukch has during 
winter in procuring water by melting snow over the train-oil 
lamp, there can be no washing of the body at that season of the 
year. Faces are however whipped clean by the drifting snow, 



476 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA, 



[CHAr. xit. 



but at the same time are generally swollen or sore from frost- 
bite* On the whole, the disposition of the Chukches to clean- 
liness is slight, and above all, their ideas of what is clean or 
unclean differs considerably from ours. Thus the women use 
urine as a wash for the face. At a common meal the hand is 
often used as a spoon, and after it is finished, a bowl filled with 
newly-passed urine instead of water is handed round the 
company for washing the hands. Change of clothes takes place 
seldom, and even when the outer dress is clean, new and well 
cut, of carefully-chosen beautiful skins, the under-dress is very 
dirty, and vermin numerous enough, though 
less so than might have been expected. 
Food is often eaten in a way which we 
consider disgusting, a titbit, for instance, is 
passed from mouth to mouth. The vessels 
in which food is served are used in many 
ways and seldom cleaned. On the other 
hand it may be stated that, in order not to 
make a stay in the confined tent-chamber 
too uncomfortable, certain rules are strictly 
observed. Thus, for instance, it is not per- 
mitted in the interior of the tent to spit on 
the floor, but this must be done into a vessel 
which in case of necessity is used as a night- 
utensil. In every outer tent there lies a 
specially carved reindeer horn, with which 
snow is removed from the clothes ; the outer 
pesk is usually put off before one goes into 
the inner tent and the shoes are carefully 
freed from snow. The carpet of walrus- 
skin, which covers the floor of the inner 
tent, is accordingly dry and clean. Even 
the outer tent is swept clean and free from 
loose snow, and the snow is daily shovelled 
away from the tent doors with a spade 
of whalebone. Every article both in 
the outer and inner tent is laid in its 
proper place, and so on. 

As ornaments glass beads are principally used, some of them 
being suspended from the neck and ears, others sewed upon 
the hood and other articles of dress, or plaited into the hair. 
Embroidery of very pleasing patterns is also employed. In 
order to embellish the peshs strips of skin or marmots' and 
squirrels' tails, &c., are sewed upon them. Often a variega- 
ted artificial tail of different skins is fixed to the hood be- 
hind, or the skin of the hood is so chosen that the ears of 
the animal project on both sides of the head. Along with 




a. HUNTING CUP (sucking; 
tube). (One-fourth of 
the natural size.) 

6. SNOW-SCRAPER. (One- 
eighth of the natural 
size.) 




CHURCH WEAPONS AND HUNTING IMPLEMENTS 



478 
the 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



beads are fixed amulets, wooden tongs, small bone heads 

or bone figures, pieces of metal, 
coins, &c. One child had sus- 
pended from its neck an old 
Chinese coin with a square 
hole in the middle, together 
with a new American five- 
cent piece. 

In former times beautiful 
and good weapons were pro- 
bably highly prized by so war- 
like a people as the Chukches, 
but now weapons are properly 
scarce antiquities, which, how- 
ever, are still regarded with a 
certain respect, and therefore 
are not readily parted with. 
The lance which was found 
beside the corpse (fig. 2 on 
p. 477) shows by its still par- 
tially preserved gold decora- 
tions that it had been forged 
by the hand of an artist. 
Probably it has formed part 
of the booty won long ago in 
the fights with the Cossacks. 
I jjrocured by barter an ivory 
coat of mail (fig. 7 on p. 477), 
and remains of another. The 
ivory plates of the coat of mail 
are twelve centimetres in 
length, " four in breadth, and 
nearly one in thickness, holes 
being bored at their edges 
for the leather thongs by 
which the plates are bound 
together. This binding has 
been so arranged that the 
whole coat of mail, when not 
in use, may be rolled together. 
Along with the spear and 
the coat of mail the old 
Chukches used the bow for 
martial purposes. Now this 
weapon is employed only for 
hunting, but it appears as if 

CHXTKCH BOW A^D QD.VEE. ^^^^^ fj"^. ^|^-g p^^j-pOSO It WOuld 

(One-eiahtli of the natural size.) ^ ^ 




XII.] 



THE BOW AND ARROW USED IN HUNTING. 



479 



soon go out of use. Some of the natives, however, use 
the bow with great accuracy of aim. The bows which I 
procured commonly consisted of a badly worked, slightly 
bent, elastic piece of wood, with the ends drawn together by 
a skin thong. Only some old bows had a finer form. They 
were larger, and made with care ; for instance, they were 
covered with birch -bark, and strengthened by an artistic 
plaiting of sinews on ^the outer side. The arrows are of many 




CHUKCH ARROWS. 

(One-ninth of the natural size.) a. An arrowhead (one-half the natural size). 



kinds, partly with bone or wooden, and partly with iron, points. 
Feathers are generally wanting. The shaft is a clumsily worked 
piece -of wood. Crossbows are occasionally used. We have 
even seen bows for playthings, with carefully made, iron-pointed 
arrows. At the encampments near the winter station we found 
a couple of percvission-lock guns, with caps, powder and lead. 
They were evidently little used, and my attempt to induce the 
Chukches to undertake long journeys by promises of a gun 
with the necessary supply of powder and lead completely 
failed. When the Chukch, who carried our letters to Nischni 



480 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Kolymsk, was after his return rewarded witli a red shirt, a 
gun, caps, powder and ball, he wished to exchange the gun and 
ammunition for an axe. 

The principal livelihood of the Chukches is derived from 
hunting and fishing. Both are very abundant at certain seasons 
of the year, but are less productive during the cold season, in 
which case, in consequence of the little forethought of the 
savage, there arises great scarcity both of food and fuel and 
the means of melting snow. Of their hunting and fishing 
implements I cannot give so complete accounts as I should 
wish, because they very carefully avoided taking any of the 
Vegas hunters with them on their hunting excursions. 

The rough seal is taken with nets, made of strong seal-skin 
thongs. The nets are set in summer among the ground-ices 
along the shore. The animal gets entangled in the net and is 
suffocated, as it can no longer come to the surface to breathe. 
In winter the seal is taken partly with nets in " leads " among 
the ice, partly with the harpoon when it crawls out of its hole ; 
it is also taken by means of a noose of thongs placed over its 
hole. In order to avoid the loss of the valuable seal-blood, 
which is considered an extraordinary delicacy by the Chukches, 
the animal is never killed by an edged tool, if that can be 
avoided, but by repeated blows on the head. The bear is killed 
by the lance or knife, the latter, according to the statement of a 
Chukch, being the surest weapon ; the walrus and the largest 
kind of seals with the harpoon (fig. 1, p. 477), or a lance 
resembling the Greenlander's. Even the whale is harpooned, 
but with a harpoon considerably larger than the common, and 
to which as many as six inflated seal-skins are fastened. In 
order to kill a whale a great many such harpoons must be 
struck into it. Birds are taken in snares, or killed with bird- 
javelins, arrows, and slings. The last mentioned (fig. 3, p. 477) 
consist of a number of round balls of bone fastened to leather 
thongs, which are knotted together. Some feathers are often 
fixed to the knot in order to increase the resistance of the air to 
this part of the sling. When the sling is thrown the bone balls 
are thereby scattered in all directions, and the probability of 
hitting becomes greater. Every man and boy in summer carries 
with him such a sling, often bound round his head, and is 
immediately prepared to cast it at flocks of birds flying past. 
Common slings are also used, consisting of two thongs and a 
piece of' skin fastened to them. The bird-dart (fig. 5, p. 477) 
completely resembles that used by the Eskimo. A kind of 
snare was used by the boys at Yinretlen to catch small birds 
for our zoologist. They were made of whalebone fibres. 

Fish are caught partly with nets, partly with the hook or with 
a sort of leister (fig. 6, p. 477). The nets are made of sinew- 



XII.] THE FOOD OF THE CHURCHES. 481 

thread. I procured several of these, and was sur23rised at the 
small value which the natives set upon them, notwithstanding 
the hard labour which must have been required for preparing 
the thread and making the net. The nets are also sometimes 
used as drift-nets. The fishing-rod consists of a shaft only 
thirty centimetres long, to which is fixed a short line made of 
sinews. The extreme end of the line passes through a large 
sinker of ivory, to which are attached two or three tufts each 
with its hook of bone only, or of bone and copper, or bone and 
iron. The hook has three or four points projecting in different 
directions. I have before described how the hook is used in 
autumn in fishing for roach, also how the productive fishing 
goes on in the neighbourhood of Tjapka. 

Even for the coast Chukch reindeer fiesh appears to form an 
important article of food. He probably purchases his stock of 
it from the reindeer-Chukches for train-oil, skin straps, walrus 
tusks, and perhaps fish, I suppose that part of the frozen 
reindeer blood, which the inhabitants of the villages at our 
winter station used for soup, had been obtained in the same 
way. Wild reindeer, or reindeer that had run wild, were 
hunted with the lasso. Such animals, however, do not appear 
now to be f6und in any large numbers on the Chukch peninsula. 

Besides fish and flesh the Chukches x3onsume immense quanti- 
ties of herbs and other substances from the vegetable kingdom.^ 
The most important of these are the leaves and young branches 
of a great many different plants (for instance Salix, Rhodiola, 
&c..) which are collected and after being cleaned are preserved 
in seal-skin sacks. Intentionally or unintentionally the contents 
of the. sacks sour during the course of the summer. In autumn 
they freeze together to a lump of the form of the stretched 
seal-skin. The frozen mass is cut in pieces and used with flesh, 
much in the same way as we eat bread. Occasionally a vegetable 
soup is made from the pieces along with water, and is eaten 
warm. In the same way the contents of the reindeer stomach 
is used. Alffse and different kinds of roots are also eaten, among; 
the latter a kind of wrinkled tubers, which, as already stated 
at p. 340, have a very agreeable taste. 

In summer the Chukches eat cloud-berries, red bilberries, and 
other berries, which are said to be found in great abundance in 
the interior of the country. The quantity of vegetable matter 
which is collected for food at that season of the year is very 
considerable, and the natives do not appear to be very particular 
in their choice, if the leaves are only green, juicy, and free from 

^ An exhaustive treatise on the food-substances which the Chukches 
gather from the vegetable kingdom, written by Dr. Kjellman, is to be 
found in The Scientific Work of the Vega Expedition. Popov already states 
that the Chukches eat many berries, roots, and herbs (Miiller, iii. p. 59). 

I I 



482 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

any bitter taste. When the inhabitants, in consequence of 
scarcity of food, removed in the beginning of February from 
Pitlekaj, they carried with them several sacks of frozen veget- 
ables, and there were still some left in the cellars to be taken 
away as required. In the tents at St. Lawrence Bay there lay 
heaps of leaf-clad willow-twigs and sacks filled with leaves and 
stalks of Rhodiola. The writers who quote the Chukches as 
an example of a race living exclusively on substances derived 
from the animal kingdom thus commit a complete mistake. On 
the contrary, they appear at certain seasons of the year to be more 
" graminivorous " than any other people I know, and with respect 
to this their taste appears to me to give the anthropologist a. hint 
of certain traits of the mode of life of the people of the Stone Age 
which have been completely overlooked. To judge from the 
Chukches our primitive ancestors by no means so much re- 
sembled beasts of prey as they are commonly imagined to have 
done, and it may, perhaps, have been the case that "bellum 
omnium inter omnes " was first brought in with the higher 
culture of the Bronze or Iron Age. 

The cooking of the Chukches, like that of most wild races, 
is very simple. After a successful catch all the dwellers in the 
tent gormandise on the killed animal, and appear to find a 
special pleasure in making their faces and hands as bloody as 
possible. Alternately with the raw flesh are eaten pieces of 
blubber and marrow, and bits of the intestines which have been 
freed from their contents merely by pressing between the fingers. 
Fish is eaten not only in a raw state, but also frozen so hard 
that it can be broken in pieces. "When opportunity offers the 
Chukches do not, however, neglect to boil their food, or to roast 
pieces of flesh over the train-oil lamp — the word o-oast ought 
however in this case to be exchanged for soot. At a visit which 
Lieutenant Hovgaard made at Najtskaj, the natives in the tent 
where he was a guest ate for supper first seal-flesh soup, then 
boiled fish, and lastly, boiled seal-flesh. They thus observed 
completely the order of eating approved in Europe. The 
Chukches are unacquainted with other forks than their fingers, 
and even the use of the spoon is not common. Many carry 
about with them a spoon of copper, tinned iron, or bone (fig. 8, 
p. 486), The soup is often drunk directly out of the cooking 
vessel, or sucked up through hollow bones (see the figure on 
p. 476). These are used as drinking cups, and like the spoons 
are worn in the belt. As examples of Chukch dishes I may 
further mention, vegetable soup, boiled seal-flesh, boiled fish, 
blood soup, soup of seal-blood and blubber. To these we may 
add soup from finely crushed bones, or from seal-flesh, blubber, 
and bones. For crushing the bones there is in every tent a 
hammer, consisting of rn oval stone with a hollow round it for 



XII.] 



STONE HAMMEES. 



483 



a skin thong, with which the stone is fastened to the short shaft 
of wood or bone. The bones which are used for food are finely 
crushed with this implement against a stone anvil or a 
whale's vertebra, and then boiled with water and blood, before 
being eaten. At first we beheved that this dish was intended 
for the dogs, but afterwards I had an opportunity of convincing 
myself that the natives themselves ate it ; and that long before 
the time_ when they suffered from scarcity of provisions. The 
hammer is further of interest as forming one of the stone im- 
plements which are most frequently found in graves from the 
Stone Age. That the hammer was mainly intended for kitchen 
purposes appears from the circumstance that the women alone 
had it at their disposal, and were consulted when it was parted 
with. Along with such hammers there was to be found in every 





S' Ji_ ■; « 



STONE HAJIMERS AND ANVIL FOB CRUSHING BONES. 

(One-sixth of the natural size.) 

tent an anvil, consisting of a whale's vertebra or a large round 
stone with a bowl-formed depression worn or cut oiit in the 
middle of it. 

During winter a great portion of the inhabitants of Yinretlen, 
Mekaj, and as far as from Irgunnuk, came daily on board to 
beg or buy themselves provisions, and during this period they 
were fed mainly by us. They soon accustomed themselves to 
our food. They appeared specially fond of pea-soup and por- 
ridge. The latter they generally laid out on a snow-drift to 
treeze, and then took it in the frozen form to the tents. 
Coffee they did not care for unless it was well sugared. Salt 
they did not use, but with sugar they were all highly delighted. 
They also drank tea with pleasure. Otherwise water Iforms 
then- principal drink. They were, however, often compeUed in 

I I 2 



484 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

winter, in consequence of tlie difficulty of melting over the 
train-oil lamps a sufficient ; quantity of snow, to quench their 
thirst with snow. On board they often asked for water, and 
drank at once large quantities of it. 

Spirits, to which they are exceedingly addicted, they ' call, 
as has been already stated, in conversation with Europeans, 
"ram," the pronouncing of the word being often accompanied 
by a hawking noise, a happy expression, and a distinctive ges- 
ture, which consisted in carrying the open right hand from the 
mouth to the waist, or in counterfeiting the unintelligible talk 
of a drunken man. Among themselves they call itj fire-water 
(akmimil). The promise of it was the most efficient means of 
getting an obstinate Chukch to comply with one's wishes. In 
case they undertook to drive us with their dog-teams, they were 
never desirous of finding out whether any stock of provisions 
was taken along, but warned by our parsimony in dealing out 
spirituous liquor, they were unwilling to start until they had ex- 
amined the stock of " ram." That drunkenness, not the satisfying 
of the taste, was in this case the m.ain object, is shown by the 
circumstance that they often fixed, as price for the articles they 
saw we were anxious to have, such a quantity of brandy as 
would make them completely intoxicated. When on one oc- 
casion I appeared very desirous of purchasing a fire-drill, which 
was found in a tent inhabited by a newly-wedded pair, the 
young and very pretty housewife undertook the negotiation, 
and immediately began by declaring that her husband could not 
part with the fire-producing implement unless I gave him the 
means of getting quite drunk, for which, according to her 
statement, which was illustrated by lively gesticulations repre- 
senting the different degrees of intoxication, eight glasses were 
required. Not until the man had got so many would he be 
content, that is, dead drunk. I have myself observed, however, 
on several occasions that two small glasses are sufficient to make 
them unsteady on the legs. Under the influence of liquor they 
are cheerful, merry, and friendly, but troublesome by their ex- 
cessive caressing. When in the company of intoxicated natives, 
one must take good care that he does not unexpectedly get a 
kiss from some old greasy seal-hunter. Even the women readily 
took a glass, though evidently less addicted to intoxicants than 
the men. They however got their share, as did even the 
youngest of the children. When, as happened twice in the 
course of the winter, an encampment was fortunate enough to 
get a large stock of brandy sent it from Behring's Straits, the 
intoxication was general, and, as I have already stated, the 
bluish-yellow eyes the next day showed that quarrelsomeness 
had been called forth even among this peace-loving people by 
their dear ahnimil. During our stay at the villages nearer 



XII.] . SPIKITS AN ARTICLE OF COMMERCE. 485 

Behring's Straits two murders even took place, of which one at 
least was committed by an intoxicated man. 

However slight the contact the Chukches have with the 
world that has reached the standpoint of the brandy industry is, 
this means of enjoyment, however, appears to be the object of 
regular barter. Many of the Chukches who travelled past us 
were intoxicated, and shook with pride a not quite empty keg 
or seal-skin sack, to let us hear by the dashing that it con- 
tained liquid. One of the crew, whom I asked to ascertain 
what sort of spirit it was, made friends with the owner, and 
induced him at last to part with about a thimbleful of it; -more 
could not be given. According to the sailor's statement it was 
mthout colour and flavour, clear as crystal, but weak. It was 
thus probably Russian corn brandy, not gin. 

During a visit which Lieutenants Hovgaard and Nordquist 
made in the autumn of 1878 to the reindeer-Chukches in the 
interior of the country, much diluted American gin was on the 
contrary presented, and the tent-owner showed his guests a 
tin drinking-cup with the inscription, " Capt. Ravens, Brig 
Timandra, 1878." Some of the natives stated distinctly that 
they could purchase brandy at Behring's Straits all the year 
round. All the men in the tent -village, and most of the 
women, but not the children, had at the time got completely 
intoxicated in order to celebrate the arrival of the foreigners, or 
perhaps rather that of the stock of brandy. As there are no 
Europeans settled at Behring's Straits, at least on the Asiatic 
side, we learn from the traffic in brandy that there are actually 
natives abstemious enough to be able to deal in it. 

Tobacco is in common use, both for smoking and chewing.^ 
Every native carries with him a pipe resembling that of the 
Tunguse, and a tobacco-pouch (fig. 7, p. 486). The tobacco 
is of many kinds, both Russian and American, and when the 
stock of it is finished native substitutes are used. Preference 
is given to the sweet, strong chewing tobacco, which sailors 
generally use. In order to make the tobacco sweet which has 
not before been drenched with molasses, the men are accus- 
tomed, when they get a piece of sugar, to break it down and 
place it in the tobacco-pouch. The tobacco is often first chewed, 
then dried behind the ear, and kept in a separate pouch sus- 
pended from the neck, to be afterwards smoked. The pipes are 
so small that, like those of the Japanese, they may be smoked 
out with a few strong whiffs. The smoke is swallowed. 
Even the women and children smoke and chew, and they begin 
to do so at so tender an age that we have seen a child, who 

■^ Already, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, all the Siberian 
tribes, men and women, old and young, smoked passionately {Hist. 
Genealog. des Tartares, p. 66). 




CHUKCH IMPLEMENTS. 



Scraper for currying (one-seventli of the natural size). 2. Awls (one-half). 3. Ice-scraper 
intended for decoying the seal from its hole, with bone amulet affixed (one-talf). 4. Bone 
knife (one-half). 5, 6. Amulets of hone (natural size). 7. Pipe and tobacco-pouch (one- 
third). 8. Metal spoons (one-third). ' 



CHAP. XII.] MODE OF TRADING WITH THE CHUKCHES. 487 

eould indeed waik, but still sucked his mother, both chew 
tobacco, smoke, and take a " ram." 

Some bundles of Ukraine tobacco, which I took with me for 
barter with the natives, put it into my power to procure a large 
number of contributions to the ethnological collection, which 
in the absence of other wares for barter I would otherwise have 
been unable to obtain. For the Chukches do not understand 
money. This is so much the more remarkable as they carry on 
a very extensive trade, and evidently are good mercantile men. 
According to von Dittmar (Joe. cit. p. 129) there exists, or still 
existed in 1856, a steady, slow, but regular transport of goods 
along the whole north coast of Asia and America, by which 
Russian goods were conveyed to the innermost parts of Polar 
America, and furs instead found their way to the bazaars of 
Moscow and St. Petersburg. This traffic is carried on at five 
market places, of which three are situated in America, one on 
the islands at Behring's Straits, and one at Anjui near Kolyma. 
The last-mentioned is called by the Chukches " the fifth beaver 
market." ^ 

The Chukches' principal articles of commerce consist of seal- 
skin, train-oil, fox-skins and other furs, walrus tusks, whalebone, 
&c. Instead they purchase tobacco, articles of iron, reindeer 
skin and reindeer flesh, and, when it can be had, spirit. A 
bargain is concluded very cautiously after long-contimied con- 
sultation in a whispering tone between those present. I 
employed spirit as an article for barter only in the last 
necessity, but they soon observed that the desire to become 
owner of an uncommon article of art or antiquity overcame my 
determination, and they soon learned to avail themselves of 
this, especially as in all cases I made full payment for the 
article and gave the fire-water into the bargain. 

The lamp (see the figures at pp. 413, 414), with which light is 
maintained in the tent, consists of a flat trough of wood, bone 
of the whale, soap-stone or burned clay, broader behind than 
before, and divided by an isolated toothed comb into two 
divisions. In the front division, wicks of moss (Sphagnum sp.) 
are laid in a long thin* row along the whole edge. Under the 

^ Dr. John Simpson gives good information regarding the American 
markets in liis Observations on the Western Esquimaux. He enumerates 
three market places in America besides that at Behring's Straits. At the 
markets people are occupied also with dancing and games, whicli are 
carried on in such a lively manner that the market people scarcely sleep 
during the whole time. Matiuschin gives a very lively sketch of the 
market at Anjui, to which, in 1821, the Chukches still went fully armed 
with spears, bows, and arrows (Wrangel's Reise, i. p. 270), and a visit to it 
in 1868 is described by C. von Neumann, who took part as Astronomer in 
von Maydell's expedition to Chukch Land {Eine Messe tin Hochnorden ; 
DasAusland, 1880, p. 861). 



488 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

lamp there is always another vessel intended to receive the 
train-oil which may possibly be spilled. 

In summer the natives also cook with wood in the open air 
or in the outer tent, in winter only in the greatest necessity in 
the latter. For they find the smoke, which the wood gives off 
in the close tent, unendurable. Although driftwood is to be 
found in great abundance on the beach, scarcity of train-oil 
was evidently considered by the natives as great a misfortune 
as scarcity of food. Uinga eek, no fuel (properly, no fire), was 
the constant cry even of those who drew loads of driftwood 
on board to earn bread for themselves. The circumstance that 
their fuel does not give off any smoke has the advantage that 
the eyes of the Chukches are not usually nearly so much 
attacked as those of the Lapps. 

In the tent the women have always a watchful eye over the 
trimming of the lamp and the keeping up of the fire. The 
wooden pins she uses to trim the wick, and which naturally are 
drenched with train-oil, are used when required as a light 
or torch in the outer tent, to light pipes, &c. In the same way 
other pins dipped in train-oil are used.' Clay lamps are made 
by the Chukches themselves, the clay being well kneaded and 
moistened with urine. The burning is incomplete, and is indeed 
often wholly omitted. 

Train-oil and other liquid wares are often kept in sacks of 
seal-skin, consisting of whole hides, out of which the body has 
been taken through the opening made by cutting off the head, 
and in which all holes, either natural or caused by the killing of 
the animal, have been firmly closed. In one of the forepaws 
there is then inserted with great skill a wooden air- and water- 
tight cock with spigot and faucet. In sacks intended for dry 
wares the paws are also cut off, and th 3 opening through which 
the contents are put in and taken out is made right across the 
breast immediately below the forepaws. 

Fire is lighted partly in the way common in Sweden some 
decades ago by means of flint and steel, partly by means of a 
drill implement. In the former case the steel generally consists 
of a piece of a file or some other old steel tool, or of pieces of 
iron or steel which have been specially forged for the purpose. 
Commonly the form of this tool indicates a European or 
liussian-Siberian origin, but I also acquired clumsily hammered 
pieces of iron, which appeared to form specimens of native skill 
ia forging. A Chukch showed me a large fire-steel of the last 
mentioned kind, provided with a special handle of copper 
beautifully polished by long-continued use. He evidently 

1 I have seen such pins, also oblong- stones, sooty at one end, which, 
after having been dipped in train-oil, have been used as torches, laid by the 
side of corpses in old Eskimo graves in north-western Greenland. 



XII.] THE FIRE-DRILL. 489 

regarded it as a very precious thing, and I could not persuade 
him to part with it. On the supposition that the metal of the 
clumsily hammered pieces of iron might possibly be of meteoric 
origin I purchased as many of them as I could. But the ex- 
amination, to which they were subjected after our return, 
showed that they contain no traces of nickel. The iron was 
thus not meteoric. 

The flint consists of a beautiful chalcedony or agate, which 
has been formed in cavities in the volcanic rocks which occur so 
abundantly in north-eastern Asia, and which probably are also 
found here and there as pebbles in the beds of the tundra 
rivers. As tinder, are used partly the woolly hair of various 
animals, partly dry fragments of different kinds of plants. The 
steel and a large number of pieces of flint are kept in a skin 
pouch suspended from the neck. Within this pouch there is a 
smaller one, containing the tinder. It is thus kept warm by 




riRE-DKILL. 

One-eighth of the natural size. 



the heat of the body, and protected from wet by its double 
envelope. Along with it the men often carry on their persons 
a sort of match of white, well-dried, and crushed willows, which 
are plaited together and placed in even rolls. This match 
burns slowly, evenly, and well. 

The other sort of fire-implement consists of a dry wooden 
pin, which by a common bow-drill is made to rub against a 
block of dry half-blackeined wood. The upper part of this pin 
runs in a drill block of wood or bone. In one of the tools 
which I purchased, the astragalus of a reindeer was used for 
this purpose. In the light-stock holes have been made to give 
support to the pin, and perhaps to facilitate the formation of the 
half-carbonised wood-meal which the drilling loosens from the 
light-stock and in which the red heat arises. When fire is to 
be lighted by means of this implement, the lower part of the 
drill pin is daubed over with a little train-oil, one foot holds 



490 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

the light-stock firm against the ground, the bowstring is put 
round the drill pin, the left hand presses the pin with the drill 
block against the light-stock, and the bow is carried backwards 
and forwards, not very rapidly, but evenly, steadily, and un- 
interruptedly, until fire appears. A couple of minutes are 
generally required to complete the process. The women appear 
to be more accustomed than the men to the use of this 
implement. An improved form of it consisted of a wooden pin 
on whose lower part a lense-formed and perforated block of wood 
was fixed. This block served as fly-wheel and weight. Across 
the wooden pin ran a perforated cross-bar which was fastened 
with two sinews to its upper end. By carrying this cross-bar 
backwards and forwards the pin could be turned round with 
great rapidity. The implement appears to me the more re- 
markable as it shows a new way of using the stone or brick 
lenses, which are often found in graves or old house-sites from 
the Stone Age. 

~ Among the Chukches, as among many other wild races, 
lucifer matches have obtained the honour of being the first 
of the inventions of the civilised races that have been recognised 
as indisputably superior to their own. A request for lucifer 
matches was therefore one of the most common of those with 
which our friends at Behring's Straits tormented us during 
winter, and they were willing for a single box to offer things 
that in comparison were very valuable. Unfortunately we had 
no superfluous supply of this necessary article, or perhaps I 
ought to say fortunately, for if the Chukches for some years 
were able to get a couple of boxes of matches for a walrus tusk, 
I believe that with their usual carelessness they would soon 
completely forget the use of their own fire-implements. 

Among household articles I may further mention the 
following : — 

The hide-scraper (fig. 1, p. 486) is of stone or iron and fastened 
to a wooden handle. With this tool the moistened hide is 
cleaned very particularly, and is then rubbed, stretched, and 
kneaded so carefully that several days go to the preparation 
of a single reindeer skin. That this is hard work is also shown 
by the woman who is employed at it in the tent dripping with 
perspiration. While thus employed she sits on a part of the 
skin and stretches out the other part with the united help of 
the hands and the bare feet. When the skin has been 
sufiiciently worked, she fills a- vessel with her own urine, mixes 
this with comminuted willow bark, which has been dried over 
the lamp, and rubs the blood-warm liquid into the reindeer 
skin. In order to give this a red colour on one side, the bark 
of a species of Pinus (?) is mixed with the tanning liquid. The 
skins are made very soft by this process, and on the inner side 



XII.] 



ICE MATTOCKS. 



491 



almost resemble chamois leather. Sometimes too the reindeer 
skin is tanned to real chamois of very excellent quality. 

Two sorts of ice mattocks ; the shaft is of wood, the blade of 
the spade-formed one of whalebone, of the others of a walrus 
tusk ; it is fixed to the shaft by skin thongs with great skill. 
Sometimes both the shaft and blade are of bone, fastened 
together in a somewhat different way. 

Hones of native clay-slate. These are often perforated at one 
end and carried along with the knife, the spoon, and the sucking- 
tube, fastened with an ivory tongs in the belt. 




ICE MATTOCKS. 

• One-ninth of the natural size. 



Home-made vessels of wood, bone of the ivhale, whalebone, avd 
shin of different kinds. _, 

Knives, boring tools, axes and pots of European, American, or 
Siberian origin, and in addition casks, pieces of cable, iron 
scrap, preserved-meat tins, glasses, bottles, &c., obtained from 
ships which have anchored along the coast. Vessels have 
regularly visited the sea north of Behring's Straits only during 
the latest decades, and the contact between the sailors and the 
Chukches has not yet exerted any considerable influence on the 



492 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

mode of life of the latter. The natives, however, complain that 
the whalers destroy the walrus-hunting, while on the other 
hand they see with pleasure trading vessels occasionally visiting 
their coasts. 

During our stay off the considerable encampment, Irkaipij, 
we believed, as I have already stated, that we had found a chief 
in a native named Chepurin, who, to judge by his dress, appeared 
to be somewhat better off than the others, had two wives and a 
stately exterior. He was accordingly entertained in the gun- 
room, got the finest presents, and was in many ways the object 
of special attention. Chepurin took his elevation easily, and 
showed himself worthy of it by a grave and serious, perhaps 
somewhat condescending behaviour, which further confirmed our 
supposition and naturally increased the number of our presents. 
Afterwards, however, we were quite convinced that we had 
in this case committed a complete mistake, and that now there 
are to be found among the Chukches living at the coast neither 
any recognised chiefs nor any trace of social organisation. 
During the former martial period of the history of the race 
the state of things here was perhaps different, but now the 
most complete anarchy prevails here, if by that word we 
may denote a state of society in which disputes, crimes, 
and punishments are unknown, or at least exceedingly rare.^ 
A sort of chieftainship appears, at all events, to be found among 
the reindeer-Chukches living in the interior of the country. 
At least there are among them men who can show commissions 
from the Russian authorities. Such a man was the starost 
Menka, of whose visit I have already given an account. Every- 
thing, however, indicated that his influence was exceedingly 
small. He could neither read, write, nor sj)eak Russian, and he 
had no idea of the existence of a Russian Czar. All the tribute 
he had delivered for several years, according to receipts which he 
showed to us, consisted of some few fox-skins, which he had 
probably received as market-tolls at Anjui and Mark ova. Menka 
was attended on his visit to the vessel by two ill-clad men with a 
type of face differing considerably from that common among the 

^ In the accounts which were collected regarding the Chukches at 
Anadyrsk in the beginning of the eighteenth century, it is also stated that 
they lived without any government. On the contrary, in M. von Krusen- 
stern's Voyage autour du monde, 1803-1806 (Paris, 1821, ii. p. 151), a report 
of Governor Koscheleff is given on some negotiations which he had with 
a " chief of the whole Chukch -nation." I take it for granted that the 
chiefship was of little account, and Koscheleff's whole sketch of his 
meeting with the supposed chief bears an altogether too lively European 
romantic stamp to be in any degree true to nature. At the same place it is 
also said that a brother of Governor KoschelefE, in the winter of 1805-1806, 
made a journey among the Chukches, on which, after his return, he sent a 
report, accompanied by a Chukch vocabulary, to von Krusenstern. 



XII.] THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THE CHUKCHES. 493 

Chukclies. Their standing appeared to be so inferior that we 
took them for slaves, although mistakenly, at least with respect 
to one of them — Yettugin. He afterwards boasted that he 
owned a much larger reindeer-herd than Menka's, and talked 
readily, with a certain scorn, of Menka's chieftain pretensions. 
According to Russian authors there are actual slaves, probably 
the descendants of former prisoners of war, among the Chukches 
in the interior of the country. Among the dwellers on the 
coast, on the contrary, there is the most complete equality. We 
could never discover the smallest trace of any man exercising 
the least authority beyond his own family or his own tent. 

The coast Chukches are not only heathens, but are also, so 
f;ir as we could observe, devoid of every conception of higher 
beings. There are, however, superstitions. Thus most of them 
wear round the neck leather straps, to which small wooden tongs, 
or wooden carvings, are fixed. These are not parted with, and 
are not readily shown to foreigners. A boy had a baud of beads 
sewed to his hood, and in front there was fastened an ivory 
carving, probably intended to represent a bear's head (fig. 6, on 
p. 486). It was so small, and so inartistically cut, that a 
man could undoubtedly make a dozen of them in a day. I, how- 
ever, offered the father unsuccessfully a clasp-knife and tobacco 
for it, but the boy himself, having heard our bargaining, 
exchanged it soon after for a piece of sugar. When the father 
knew this he laughed good-naturedly, without making any 
attempt to get the bargain undone. 

To certain tools small wooden images are affixed, as to the 
scraper figured above (fig. 3, p. 486), and similar images are 
found in large numbers in the lumber-room of the tent, where 
pieces of ivory, bits of agate and scrap iron, are preserved. A 
selection from the large collection of such images which I made 
is here reproduced in woodcuts. If, also, these carvings may, in 
fact, be considered as representations of higher beings, the 
religious ideas which are connected with them, even judged 
from the Shaman standpoint, are exceedingly indistinct, less a 
consciousness, which still lives among the people, than a re- 
miniscence from former times. Most of the figures bear an 
evident stamp of the present dress and mode of life of the 
people. It appears to me to be remarkable, that in all the 
bone or wood carvings I have met with, the face has been cut 
flatter than it is in reality in this race of men. Some of the 
carvings appear to remind me of an ancient Buddhist image. 

The drum, or more correctly, tambourine, so common among 
most of the Polar peoples, European, Asiatic, and American ; 
among the Lapps, the Samoyeds, the Tunguses, and the Eskimo 
(see drawing on p. 415), is found in every Chukch tent. A 
certain superstition is also attached to it. They did not willingly 





if 




mm, 



'I'l'l' .'v 



0A-. 12 




HUMAN ■FIGURES. 

Nos. 1, 3, and 5, represent women with tattooed faces. No 4 is of wood. No. 6 of wood with eyes oi 

tin ; the rest are of ivory. 



CHAP, xn.] THE DRUM AND ITS USE. 495 

play it in our presence, and they were unwilling to part with it. 
If time permitted it was concealed on our entrance into the 
tent. The drum consists of the peritoneum of a seal, stretched 
over a narrow wooden ring fixed to a short handle. The drum- 
stick consists of a splinter of whalebone 300 to 400 millimetres 
long, which towards the end runs into a point so fine and flexible, 
that it forms a sort of whipcord. When the thicker part of the 
piece of whalebone is struck against the edge of the drum-skin, 
the other end whips against the middle, and the skin is thus struck 
twice at the same time. The drum is commonly played by the 
man, and the playing is accompanied by a very monotonous 
song. We have not seen it accompanied by dancing, twisting of 
the countenance, or any other Shaman trick. 

We did not see among the Chukches we met with any 
Shamans. They are described by Wrangel, Hooper, and other 
travellers. Wrangel states (vol. i. p. 284) that the Shamans in 
the year 1814, when a severe epidemic broke out among the 
Chukches and their reindeer at Anjui, declared that in order to 
propitiate the spirits they must sacrifice Kotschen, one of the 
most highly esteemed men of the tribe. He was so much 
respected that no one would execute the sentence, but attempts 
were made to get it altered, first by presents to the prophets, 
and then by flogging them. But when this did not succeed, 
as the disease continued to ravage, and no one would execute the 
doom, Kotschen ordered his own son to do it. He was thus 
compelled to stab his own father to death and give up the corpse 
to the Shamans. The whole narrative conflicts absolutely wath 
the disposition and manners of the people with whom we 
made acquaintance at "Behring's Straits sixty-five years after 
this occurrence, and I would be disposed to dispute entirely 
the truthfulness of the statement, had not the history of our 
own part of the world taught us that blood has flowed in 
streams for dogmatic hair-splittings, which no one now troubles 
himself about. Perhaps the breath of indifl"erentism has reached 
even the ice-deserts of the Polar lands. 

The drum has besides also another use, which appears to have 
little connection with its property of Shaman psychograph or 
church bell. When the ladies unravej and comb their long 
black hair, this is done carefully over the drum, on whose 
bottom the numerous beingcs which the comb brinojs with it 
from the warm hearth of home out into the cold wide world, are 
collected and cracked — in case they are not eaten up. They 
taste well according to the Chukch opinion, and are exceedingly 
good for the breast. Even gorm (the large, fully developed, fat 
larva of the reindeer fly, Oestrus tarandi) is pressed out of 
the skin of the reindeer and eaten ; as well as the full-grown 
reindeer fly. 



496 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Some more of the superstitious traits whicli we observed 
among the Chukches may here be stated. After the good 
hunting in February we endeavoured without success to induce 
the Chukches to give us a head or a skull of some of the seals 
they had killed. Even brandy was unsuccessfully offered for it, 
and it was only in the greatest secrecy that Notti, one of our best 
friends from Irgunnuk, dared to give us the foetus of a seal. A 
raven was once shot in the neighbourhood of the ice-house. 
The shot then went to the magnetical observatory, but before he 
entered, laid down the shot bird, the gun, and other articles in 
the before-mentioned implement chest placed in front of the 
observatory. A short time after there was great excitement 
before the tent. Some men, women, and children among the 
natives crowded round the chest screaming and shouting. For 
the Chukches had observed that the raven, having been only 
stunned by the shot, had begun to scream and flutter in the chest, 
and they now indicated by word and gesture that a great mis- 
fortune was about to happen. Pity is not, as is well known, one 
of the good qualities of the savage. It was clear that in this case 
too it was not this feeling, but fear of the evil which the wounded 
crow could bring about, that caused this scene, and when a sailor 
immediately after twisted the neck of the bird, the Chukches 
had no objection to receive and eat it. 

The winter of 1878-1879 appears to have been uncommonly 
severe, and hunting less productive than usual. This was 
ascribed to our presence. The Chukches asked us anxiously 
several times, whether we intended to raise the water so high 
that the sea would reach their tents. When on the 11th 
February, after the hunting had failed for a long time, they 
succeeded at last in catching a number of seals, they threw 
water in their mouths before they were carried into the tents. 
This was done, they said, in order that the open " leads" in the 
ice should not close too soon. 

Besides the drum the Chukches also use as a musical instru- 
ment a piece of wood, cloven into two halves, and again united 
after the crack has been somewhat widened in the middle, with 
a piece of whalebone inserted between the two halves. They 
also during the course of the winter made several attempts to 
make violins after patterns seen on board, and actually 
succeeded in making a better sounding-box than could have 
been expected beforehand. On the draught-strap of the dog 
sledge there was often a small bell bought from the Russians, 
and the reindeer-Chukches are said sometimes to wear bells in 
the belt. 

The dance I saw consisted in two women or childi'en taking 
each other by the shoulders, and then hopping now on the one 
foot now on the other. When many took part in the dance, they 



XII.] 



DANCING, AND ART. 



497 



placed themselves in rows, sang a monotonous, meaningless song, 
hopped in time, turned the eyes out and in, and threw them- 
selves with spasmodic movements, clearly denoting pleasure 
and pain, now to the right, now to the left. " La saison " for 
dance and song, the time of slaughtering reindeer, however, did 
not happen during our stay, on which account our experience of 
the Chukches' abilities in this way is exceedingly limited. 

All sport they entered into with special delight ; for instance, 
some trial shooting which Palander set on foot on New Year's Day 
afternoon, with a small rifled 

cannon on the Vega. At _ 

first the women sat aft with 
the children, far from the 
dreadful shooting weapon, 
and indicated their feelings 
by almost the same gestures 
as on such occasions are 
wont to distinguish the 
weaker and fairer sex of 
European race. But soon 
curiosity took the upper 
hand. They pressed forward 
where they could see best, 
and broke out in a loud 
" Ho, ho, ho ! " when the 
shot was fired and the shells 
exploded in the air. 

Of what sort is the art- 
sense of the Chukches ? As 
they still almost belong to 
the Stone Age, and as their 
contact with Europeans has 
been so limited that it has 
not perhaps conduced to 
alter their taste and skill in 
art, this question appears 
to me to have a great inter- 
est both for the historian 
of art, who here obtains 

information as to the nature of the seed from which at last the 
skill of the master has been developed in the course of ages and 
millenniums, and for the archaeologist, who finds here a starting 
point for forming a judgment both of the Scandinavian rock- 
etchings and the palaeolithic drawings, which in recent times 
have played so great a part in enabling us to understand 
the oldest history of the human race. We have therefore 
zealously collected all that we could of Chukch carvings, 

K " K 




I fill 

m 



--^ 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 

1. Whistle-pipe, natural size. 2. Wliistle-instru. 
ment, one-eighth of natural size : 



a mouth-hole. 




rRAWINOS MADE BY CHUKCHES. 




DRAWINGS MADE BY CHUKCHES. 



500 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cDAr. 

drawings, and patterns. The most remarkable of these in one 
resjDect or another are to be found delineated in the woodcuts on 
the preceding pages.'^ 

Many of the ivory carvings are old and worn, showing that 
they have been long in use, probably as amulets. Various 
of the animal images are the fruit of the imagination, and as 
such may be instructive. In general the carvings are clumsy, 
though showing a distinctive style. If we compare them with 
the Samoyed images we brought home with us, it appears that 
the genius of the Chukches for art has reached an incomparably 
higher development than that of the Polar race which inhabits 
the western portion of the north coast of Asia ; on the other hand, 
they are in this respect evidently inferior to the Eskjmo at Port 
Clarence. The Chukch drawings too are roughly and clumsily 
executed, but many of them exhibit a certain' power of hitting 
off the object. These figures appear to me to show that the 
objections which have been raised to the genuineness of various 
palaeolithic etchings, just on the ground of the artist's com- 
paratively sure hand, are not justified. Even patterns and ivory 
buckles show a certain taste. Embroidery is done commonly on 
red-coloured strips of skin partly with white reindeer hair, partly 
with red and black wool, obtained in small quantity by barter 
from Behring's Straits. The supply of colouring material is not 
particularly abundant. It is obtained partly from the mineral 
kingdom (limonite of different colours, and graphite), partly from 
the vegetable kingdom (bark of various trees). The mineral 
colours are ground with water between flat stones. Bark is 
probably treated with urine. Red is the Chukches' favourite 
colour. 

In order to make a contribution towards an answer to the 
disputed question, in what degree is the colour-sense developed 
among savages, Dr. Almquist during the course of the winter 
instituted comprehensive researches according, to the method 
worked out by Professor Fr. Holmgeen. A detailed account 
of these is to be found in The Scie7itific Work of the Vega 
Expedition, and in various scientific journals. Here I shall only 
state that Dr. Almquist gives the following as the final result 

^ The originals of the drawings reproduced in the woodcuts are made on 
paper, part with the lead pencil, part with red ochre. The different groups 
represent on the first page — 1, a dog-team ; 2, 3, whales; 4, hunting the 
Polar bear and the walrus ; 5, bullliead and cod ; 6, man fishing ; 7, hare- 
hunting ; 8, birds; 9, wood-chopper; 10, man leading a reindeer; 11, 
walrus hunt — 7 and 9 represent Europeans. On the second 'paoe — 1, a lein- 
deer train ; 2, a reindeer taken with a lasso by two men ; 3, a man throw- 
ing a harpoon ; 4, seal hunt from boat ; 5, bear hunt ; 6, the man in the 
moon; 7, man leading a reindeer; 8, reindeer; 9, Chukch witli staff and 
an archer; 10, reindeer with herd; 11, reindeer; 12, two tents, man riding 
on a dog sledge, &c. 



xu.] THE COLOUR-SENSE OF THE CHURCHES. 501 

of his investigation : " That the Chukches in general possess as 
good an organ for distinguishing colours as we Swedes. On the 
other hand, they ajjpear not to be accustomed to observe colours, 
and to distinguish sharply any other colour than red. They 
bring together all reds as something special, but consider that 
green of a moderate brightness corresponds less with a green of • 
less brightness than with a blue of the same brightness. In 
order to bring all greens together the 'Chukches thus require to 
learn a new abstraction." Of 300 persons who were examined, 
273 had a fully developed colour-sense, nine were Completely 
colour-blind, and eighteen incompletely colour-blind, or gave 
uncertain indications. 

From what has been stated above it appears that the coast 
Chukches are without noteworthy religion, social organisation 
or government. Had not experience from the Polar races of 
America taught us differently we . should have believed that with 
such a literally anarchic and godless crew there would be no 
security for life and property, immorality would be boundless, 
and the weaker without any protection from the violence of the 
stronger sex. This, ; however, is. so ,far from being the case that 
criminal statistics have been rendered impossible for want of 
crimes, if we except acts of violence .committed under the 
influence of liquor. 

During the winter the Yega was visited daily, as has been 
stated in the account of the wintering, by the people from the 
neighbouring villages, while our vessel at the same time formed 
a resting-place for all the equipages which travelled from the 
western tent-villages to the islands in Behring's Straits, and vice 
versa. Not only our neighbours, tbut people from a distance 
whom we had never seen before, and probably would not see 
again, came and went without hindrance among a great numbe]' 
of objects which in their hands would have been precious 
indeed. We had never any cause to regret the confidence we 
placed in them. Even during the 'very hard time, when hunt- 
ing completely failed, and when most of them lived on the food 
which was served out on board, the large d^pot of provisions, 
which we had placed on land without special watch, in case any 
misfortune should befall our vessel, was untouched. On the 
other hand, there were two instances in which they secretly 
repossessed themselves of fish they had already sold, and which 
were kept in a place on deck accessible to them. And with 
the most innocent countenance in the world they then sold 
them over again. This sort of dishonesty they evidently did 
not regard as theft but as a permissible commercial trick. 

This was not the only proof that the Chukches consider 
deception in trade not only quite justifiable, but almost credit- 



502 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAr. XII. 



able. While their own things were always made with the 
greatest care, all that they did specially for us was done with 
extreme carelessness, and they were seldom pleased with the 
price that was offered, until they became convinced that they 
could not get more. When they saw that we were anxious to 
get ptarmigan, they offered us from their winter stock under 
this name the young of Larus ehurneus, which is marked in the 
same way, but of little use as food. When I with delight pur- 
chased this bird, which in its youthful dress is rare, and there- 
fore valuable to the ornithologist, a self-satisfied smile passed 
over the countenance of the seller. He was evidently proud of 










CHUKCH BUCKLES AND HOOKS OF IVORY. 

Half the natural size. 



his successful trick. Some prejudice, as has been already stated, 
prevented the Chukches from parting with the heads of the seal, 
though, in order to ascertain the species existing here, we offered 
a high price for them. " Irgatti " (to-morrow), or " Isgatti," if the 
promise was given by a woman, was the usual answer. But the 
promise was never kept. At last a boy came and gave us a 
skull, which he said belonged to a seal. On a more minute 
examination, however, it was found not to have belonged to a 
seal, but to an old dog, whose head it was evidently thought 
might, without any damage to the hunting, be handed over to 
the white magicians. This time it went worse with the counter- 




!) ^ 




CHDKCH BONE CARVINGS. 

^' ^tf^'r^^T^^/^i^- ^'J'- lia/es, natural size 4. Woman carrying her 'child on her shoulders, two- 
tliiids 5 Mollusc from the inland lakts (Branchypus?), natural size. 0. Monster, natural size 
I .!• ox, natural size. 8. Animal with three heads, two-thirds. V Asterid, natura' size 10 lUh 
natural size. 



504 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

feitor than in the case of the ptarmigan bargain. For a couple 
of my comrades undertook to make the boy ashamed in the 
presence of the other Chukches, saying with a laugh " that he, 
a Chukch, must have been very stupid to commit such a mis- 
take," and it actually appeared as if the scoff had in this case 
fallen into good ground. Another time, while I was in my 
watch in the ice-house, there came a native to me and informed 
me that he had driven a man from Irgunnuk to the vessel, but 
that the man had not paid him, and asked me on that account 
to give him a box of matches. When I replied that he must 
have been already well paid on the vessel for his drive, he said 
in a whining tone, "only a very little piece of bread." He was 
not the least embarrassed when I only laughed at the, as I well 
knew, untruthful statement, and did not give him what he 
asked. 

The Chukches commonly live in monogamy;- it is only 
exceptionally that they have two wives, as was the case with 
Chepurin, who has been already mentioned. It appeared as if 
the wives were faithful to their husbands. It was only seldom 
that cases occurred in which women, either in jest or earnest, 
gave out that they wished a white man as a lover. A woman 
not exactly eminent for beauty or cleanliness said, for instance, 
on one occasion, that she had had two children by Chukches, 
and now she wished to have a third by one of the ship's folk. 
The young women were modest, often very pretty, and evidently 
felt the same necessity of attracting attention by small 
coquettish artifices as Eve's daughters of European race. We 
may also understand their peculiar pronunciation of the lan- 
guage as an expression of feminine coquetry. For when they 
wish to be attractive they replace the man's r-sound with a soft 
s ; thus, korang (reindeer) is pronounced by the women hosang, 
tirkir (the sun).^*sH9, and so on. 

The women work very hard. Not only the management of 
the children, the cooking, the melting of the ice, the putting 
the tent in order, the sewing, and other " woman's work," lie to 
their hand, but they receive the catch, in winter in the tent, in 
summer at the beach, cut it in pieces, help with the fishing, at 
least when it is in the neighbourhood of the tent, and carry out 
the exceedingly laborious tanning of the hides, and prepare 
thread from sinews. In summer they collect green j^lants 
in the meadows and hill-slopes in the neighbourhood of the 
tents. They are therefore generally at home, and always busy. 
The men have it for their share to procure for their family food 
from the animal kingdom by hunting and fishing. With this pur- 
pose in view they are often out on long excursions. In the tent 
the man is for the most part without occupation, sleeps, eats, 
gossips, chats with his children, and so on, if he does not pass 



XII.] 



BEGGING. 



505 



the time in putting his hunting implements in order in a quite 
leisurely manner. 

Within the family the most remarkable unanimity prevails, 
so that we never heard a hard word exchanged, either between 
man and wife, parents and children, or between the married 
pair who own the tent and the unmarried who occasionally live in 
it. The power of the woman appears to be very great. In 
making the more important bargains, even about weapons and 
hunting imjDlements, she is, as a rule, consulted, and her advice 
is taken. A number of things which form women's tools she 
can barter away on her own responsibility, or in any other 
way employ as she pleases. When the man has by barter jDro- 
cured a piece of cloth, tobacco, sugar, or such hke, he generallv 
hands it over to his wife to keep. 

The children are neither chastised 
nor scolded; they are, however, the 
best behaved I have ever seen. Their 
behaviour in the tent is equal to that 
of the best-brought-up European chil- 
dren in the parlour. They are not, per- 
haps, so wild as ours, but are addicted 
to games which closely resemble those 
common among us in the country. 
Playthings are also in use, for instanc"e, 
dolls, bows, windmills with two sails, 
&c. If the parents get any deHcacy 
they always give each of then- chil- 
dren a bit, and there is never any 
quarrel as to the size of each child's 
portion. If a piece of sugar is given 
to one of the children in a crowd it 
goes from mouth to mouth round the 
whole company. In the same way the child offers its father and 
mother a taste of the bit of sugar or piece of bread it has 
got. Even in childhood the Chukches are exceedingly patient 
A girl who fell down from the ship's stair, head foremost 
and thus got so violent a blow that she was almost deprived 
of hearing, scarcely uttered a cry. A boy, three or four years 
of age, much rolled up in furs, who fell down into a ditch 
cut in the ice on the ship's deck, and in consequence of 
his inconvenient dress could not get up, lay quietly still until 
he was observed and helped up by one of the crew. 

The Chukches' most troublesome fault is a disposition to 
begging that is limited by no feeling of self-respect. This is 
probably counterbalanced by their unbounded hosjDitality and 
great kindness to each other, and is, perhaps, often caused by 
actual necessity. But they thus became veritable torments 




CHUKCH DOLL. 

One-eiyMh of the natural size. 





C'-^- 




CHDKCH BONE CARVINGS. 

Seals, walrusses, a sea-bear (the lowest figure to the left). The four lowest are of the natura size, 
the others two-thirds of the natural size. 




CHUKCH BONE CARVINGS. 

Fishes, larvse of flies (^gomi), moUuscs, and whales. Nos. 1 to 9 and 14, natural size. Nos. 10 to 13 

thirds of the natural size. 



, two- 



508 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

putting to a hard test the patience, not only of the scientific 
men and officers, but also of the crew. The good nature with 
which our sailors met their demands was above all praise. 

There was never any trace of disagreement between the 
natives and us, and I have every reason to suppose that our 
wintering will long be held in grateful remembrance by them, 
especially as, in order not to spoil their seal-hunting, I strictly 
forbade all unnecessary interference with it. 

It is probably impossible for a Chukch to take the place of a 
European workman. It has, however, happened that Chukches 
have gone with whalers to the Sandwich Islands, and have 
become serviceable seamen. During our wintering two young 
men got accustomed to come on board and there to take a hand, 
in quite a leisurely way, at work of various kinds, as sawing 
wood, shovelling snow, getting ice on board, &c. Jn return they 
got food that had been left over, and thus, for the most part, 
maintained not only themselves, but also their families, during 
the time we remained in their neighbourhood. 

If what I have here stated be compared with Sir Edward 
Parry's masterly sketches of the Eskimo at Winter Island and 
Iglolik, and Dr. Simpson's of the Eskimo in North-western 
America, or with the numerous accounts we possess of the 
Eskimo in Danish Greenland, a great resemblance will be 
found to exist between the natural disposition, mode of life, 
failings and good qualities of the 'Chukches, the savage Eskimo, 
and the Greenlanders. This resemblance is so much more 
striking, as the Chukch and the Eskimo belong to diiferent 
races, and speak quite different languages, and, as the former, to 
judge ^by old accounts of this people, did not, until the most 
recent generations, sink to the unwarlike, peace-loving, harmless, 
anarchic, and non-religious standpoint which they have now 
reached. It ought to be observed, however, that in the Eskimo 
of Danish Greenland no considerable alteration has been brought 
about by their all having learned to read and write and profess 
the Christian religion — although with an indifference to the 
consequences of original sin, the mysteries of redemption, and 
the punishments of hell, which all imaginable missionary zeal 
has not succeeded in overcoming. Their innocent natural state 
has not been altered in any considerable degree by being 
subjected to these conditions of culture. It is certain besides, 
that the blood which flows in the veins of the Greenlander is 
not pure Eskimo blood, but is mingled with the blood of some of 
the proudest martial races in the world. When we consider how 
rapidly, even now, when Greenland is in constant communica- 
tion with the European mother-country, all descendants of 
mixed blood become complete Eskimo in language and mode of 
life, how difficult it often is, even for parents of j)ure European 



XI..] 



THE CHUKCHES A MIXTURE OF EACES. 



509 



descent, to get their children to speak any other language than 
that of the natives, and how they, on then- part, seldom borrow 
a word from the Europeans, how common mixed marriages and 
natives of mixed blood are even now — in view of all this it 
appears to me much more probable that Erik the Red's 
colonists were quietly and peacefully converted into Eskimo, 
than that they were killed by the Eskimo. A single century's 
complete separation from Europe would be sufficient to 




CnUKCH BONE CARVINGS OF BIRDS. 

Size of the originals. 



carry out thoroughly this alteration of the present European 
population of Greenland, and by the end of that period the 
traditions of Danish rule would be very obscure in that land. 
Perhaps some trifling quarrel between a ruler of the colony and 
a native would take the foremost place among the surviving 
traditions, and be interpreted as a reminiscence from a war of 
extermination. 

Even the present Chukches form, without doubt, a mixture of 



510 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chai-. 

several races, formerly savage and warlike, who have been 
driven by foreign invaders from south to north, where they have 
adopted a common language, and on whom the food-conditions 
of the shore of the Polar Sea, the cold, snow, and darkness of 
the Arctic night, the pure, light atmosphere of the Polar 
summer, have impressed their ineffaceable stamp, a stamp which 
meets us with little variation, not only among the people now 
in question, but also — with the necessary allowance for the 
changes, not always favourable, caused by. constant intercourse 
with Europeans — among the LajDps of Scandinavia and the 
Samoyeds of Russia. 

It would be of great psychological interest to ascertain 
whether the change which has taken place in a peaceful 
direction is progress or decadence. Notwithstanding all the 
interest which the honesty, peaceableness, and innocent friend- 
liness of the Polar tribes have for us, it is my belief that the 
answer must be — decadence. For it strikes us as if we witness 
here the conversion of a savage, coarse, and cruel man into a 
being, nobler, indeed, but one in whom just those qualities 
which distinguish man from the animals, and to which at once 
the great deeds and the crimes of humanity have been due, 
have been more and more effaced, and who, if special protection 
or specially favourable circumstances be absent, will not be able 
to maintain the struggle for existence with new races that may 
seek to force their way into the country. 



CHAPTER XIIT. 

The development of our knowledge of the north coast of Asia— Hero- 
dotus — Strubo — Pliny — Marco Polo — Herberstein's map — The conquest 
of Siberia by the Russians — Deschnev's voyages — Coast navigation 
between the Lena and the Kolyma — Accounts of islands in the Polar 
Sea and old voyages to them — The discovery of Kamchatka — The 
navigation of the Sea of Okotsk is opened by Swedish prisoners-of- 
war — The Great Northern Expedition — Behring — Schalaurov — Andre- 
yev's Land — The New Siberian islands — Hedenstrom's expeditions — 
Anjou and Wrangel — Voyages from Behring's Straits westward^ — 
-Fictitious Polar voyages. 

Now that the north-eastern promontory of Asia has been at last 
circumnavigated, and vessels have thus sailed along all the 
coasts of the old world, I shall, before proceeding farther in my 
sketch of the voyage of the Vega, give a short account of the 
development of our knowledge of the north coast of Asia. 

Already in primitive times the Greeks assumed that all the 



xin.] - HERODOTUS. 511 

countries of tlie eartli were surrounded by the ocean, Stra.bo, 
in the first century before Christ, after having shown that 
Homer favoured this view, brings together in the first chapter 
of the First Book of his geography reasons in support of it in the 
following terms : — 

" In all directions in which man has penetrated to the utter- 
most boundary of the earth, he has met the sea, that is, the 
ocean. He has sailed round the east coast towards India, the 
west coast towards Iberia and Mauritia, and a great part of the 
south and north coast. The remaining portion which has not 
yet been sailed round in consequence of the voyages which have 
been undertaken from both sides not having been connected, is 
inconsiderable. For those who have attempted to circumnavi- 
gate the earth and have turned, declare that their undertaking 
did not fail in consequence of their having met with land, but 
in consequence of want of . provisions and of complete timidity 
.... At sea they could always have gone further. . . . This 
view (that the earth is surrounded by water) also accords better 
with the phenomena of the tides, for as the ebb and flow are 
everywhere the same, or at least do not vary much, the cause of 
this motion is to be sought for in a single ocean." ^ 

But if men were thus agreed that the north coast of Asia and 
Europe was bounded by thfe sea, there was for sixteen hundred 
years after the birth of Christ no actual knowledge of the nature 
of the Asiatic portion of this line of coast. Obscure statements 
regarding it, however, were current at an early period. 

While Herodotus, in the forty-fifth chapter of his Fourth 
Book, expressly says that no man, so far as was then known, had 
discovered whether the eastern and northern countries of Europe 
are surrounded by the sea, he gives in the twenty-third and 
twenty-fourth chapters of the same book the following account 
of the countries lying to the north-east : — 

" As far as the territory of the Scythians all the land which 
we have described is an uninterrupted plain, with cultivable 
soil, but beyond that the ground is stony and rugged. And on 
the other side of this extensive stone-bound tract there live at 
the foot of a high mountain-chain men who are bald from their 
birth, both men and women ; they are also flat-nosed and have 
large chins. They speak a peculiar language, wear the Scythian 
dress and live on the fruit of a tree. The tree on which they 
live is called Pooiticon, is about as large as the wild fig-tree, 
and bears fruit which resembles a bean, but has a kernel. 

^ I quote this because the movement of the tides is still, in our own time, 
made use of to determine whether certain parts of the Polar seas are 
connected with each other or not. 



512 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. • [chap. 

When this fruit is ripe, they strain it through a cloth, and the 
juice which flows from it is thick and black and called asehy. 
This juice they suck or drink mixed with milk, and of the 
pressed fruits they make cakes which they eat ; for they have 
not many cattle because the pasture is poor. ... As far as to these 
bald people the land is now sufficiently well known, also the 
races on this side of them, because they are visited by Scythians. 
From them it is not difficult to collect information, which is 
also to be had from the Greeks at the port of the Borysthenes 
and other ports in Pontus. The Scythians who travel thither 
do business with the assistance of seven interpreters in seven 
languages. So far our knowledge extends. But of the land on 
the other side of the bald men none can give any trustworthy 
account because it is shut off by a separating wall of lofty track- 
less mountains, which no man can cross. But these bald men 
say — which, however, I do not believe — that men with goat's 
feet live on the mountains, and on- the other side of them other 
men who sleep six months at a time. The latter statement, 
however, I cannot at all admit. On the other hand, the land east 
of the bald men, in which the Issedones live, is well known, but 
what is farther to the north, both on the other side of the bald 
men and of the Issedones, is only known by the statements of 
these tribes. . , . Above the Issedones live the one-eyed men, 
and the gold-guarding griffins. This information the Scythians 
have got from the Issedones and we from the Scythians, and we 
call the one-eyed race by the Scythian name Arimaspi, for in the 
Scythian language arima signifies one and sjjoii the eye. The 
whole of the country which I have been speaking of has so hard 
and severe a winter, that there prevails there for eight mouths 
an altogether insupportable cold, so that if you pour water on 
the ground you will not make mud, but if you light a fire you 
will make mud. Even the sea freezes, and the whole Cimmerian 
Bosphorus, and the Scythians who live within the trench travel 
on the ice and drive over it in waggons. . . , Again, with refer- 
ence to the feathers with which the Scythians say the air is filled, 
and which prevent the whole land lying beyond from being seen 
or travelled through, I entertain the following opinion. In the 
upper parts of this country it snows continually, but, as is natural, 
less in summer than in winter. And whoever has seen snow 
falling thick near him will know what I mean. For snow re- 
sembles feathers, and on account of the winter being so _ severe 
the northern parts of this continent cannot be inhabited. I 
believe then that the Scythians and their neiglibours called 
snow feathers, on account of the resemblance between them. 
This is what is stated regarding the most remote regions." 

These and other similar statements, notwithstanding the 



XIII.] 



STRABO. 



513 



absurdities mixed up with them, are founded in the first 
instance on the accounts of eye-witnesses, which have passed 
from mouth to mouth, from tribe to tribe, before they were 
noted down. Still several centuries after the time of Herodotus, 
when the Roman power had reached its highest point, little 
more was known of the more remote parts of north Asia. While 
Herodotus, in the two hundred and third chapter of his First 




MAP OF THE WOULD, SAID TO BE OF THE TENTH CENTtJEY. 

Fourd in a manuscript of the twelfth century in the Library at Turin. 
(From Santarem's Atlas.) 

Book, says that "the Caspian is a sea by itself having no 
communication with any other sea," Strabo, induced by evidence 
furnished by the commander of a Greek fleet in that sea, states 
(Book II. chapters i. and iv.) that the Caspian is a gulf of the 
Northern Ocean, from which it is possible to sail to India. 
Pliny the Elder (Historia Naturalis, Book VI. chapters xiii. 

L L 



CHAP., XIII.] MARCO POLO. 515 

and xvii.) states that the north part of Asia is occupied by 
extensive deserts bounded on the north by the Scythian 
Sea, that these deserts run out to a headland, Promontormm 
ScytMcum, which is uninhabitable on account of snow. Then 
there is a land inhabited by man-eating Scythians, then deserts, 
then Scythians again, then deserts with wild animals to a 
mountain ridge rising out of the sea, which is called Tabin. The 
first people that are known beyond this are the Seri. Ptolemy 
and his successors again supposed, though perhaps not ignorant 
of the old statement that Africa had been circumnavigated 
under Pharaoh Necho, that the Indian Ocean was an inland 
sea, everywhere surrounded by land, which united southern 
Africa with the eastern part of Asia, an idea which was first 
completely abandoned by the chartographers of the fifteenth 
century after the circumnavigation of Africa by Vasco DA 
Gama. 

The knowledge of the geography of north Asia remained at 
this point until Marco Polo,^ in the narrative of his remarkable 
journeys among the peoples of Middle Asia, gave some in- 
formation regarding the most northerly lands of this quarter 
of the world also. The chapters which treat of this subject 
bear the distinctive titles : " On the land of the Tartars living 
in the north," " On another region to which merchants only 
travel in waggons drawn by dogs," and " On the region where 
darkness prevails" {De regione tenebrarum). From the state- 
ments in these chapters it follows that hunters and traders 

^ Marco Polo, in 1271, at the ag-e of seventeen or eighteen, accompanied 
his father Nicolo, and his uncle Maffeo Polo, to High Asia. He remained 
there until 1295, and during that time came into great favour with Kubla, 
Khan, who employed him, among other things, in a great number of 
important public commissions, whereby he became well acquainted with 
the widely extended lands which lay under the sceptre of that ruler. After 
his return home he caused a great sensation by the riches he brought with 
him, which procured him the name il MiUione, a name however which, 
according to others, was an expression of the doubts that were long enter- 
tained regarding the truthfulness of his, as Ave now know, mainly true 
accounts of the number of the people and the abundance of wealth in 
Kublai Khan's lands. " II Millione," in the meantime, became a popular 
carnival character, whose cue was to relate as many and as wonderful 
" yarns " as possible, and in his narratives to deal preferably with millions. 
It is possible that the predecessor of Columbus might have descended to 
posterity merely as the original of thjs character if he had not, soon after 
his return home, taken part in a war against Genoa, in the course of which 
he was taken prisoner, and, during his imprisonment, related his recol- 
lections of his travels to a fellow-prisoner, who committed them to writing, 
in what language is still uncertain. The work attracted great attention and 
Avas soon spread, first in Avritten copies, then by the press in a large number 
of different languages. It has not been translated into Swedish, but in the 
Royal Library in Stockholm there is a very important and hitherto little 
known manuscript of it from the middle of the fourteenth centurj^, of 
which an edition is in course of publication in photo-lithographic facsimile. 

L L 2 



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MAP OF RUSSIA, FROWl SIGISMUND VON H ERBEIRTSTEINS COMMENTARl DELIA MO SCOVIA . VEN I CE, 1550. 



516 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



already inhabited or wandered about in the present Siberia, and 
brought thence vakiable furs of the black fox, sable, beaver, &c. 
The northernmost living men were said to be handsome, tall and 
stout, but very pale for want of the sun. They obeyed no king 
or chief, but were coarse and uncivilised and lived as beasts.^ 
Among 'the products of the northern countries white bears arc 
mentioned, from which it appears that at that time the hunters 




MAP OF THE WORLD AFTER FRA MATJBO FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURV. 

(From IlmaBpamondo di Fra Mauro Camaldolcse descritto ed iUustrato da D. Placido Ziu'la, 

Venezia, 1S06.) 

had already reached the coast of the Polar Sea. But Marco 
Polo nowhere says expressly that Asia is bounded on the north 

by the sea. n- i i j 

All the maps of North Asia which have been published down 

1 Homines illius regionis sunt pulcliri, magni, et corpulent!, sed sunt inul- 
tum pallidi . . . . et sunt homines inculti, et immorigerati et bestialiter 
viventefc'. 



XIII.] - OLD MAPS OF ASIA. 517 

to the middle of the sixteenth century, are based to a greater or 
less extent on interpretations of the accounts of Herodotus, 
Pliny, and Marco Polo. When they do not surround the whole 
Indian Ocean with land, they give to Asia a much less extent 
in the north and east than it actually possesses, make the land 
in this direction completely bounded by sea, and delineate two 
headlands projecting towards the north from the mainland. To 
these they give the names Promontorium Scytliicum and Tabin, 
and they besides place in the neighbourhood of the north coast 
a large island to which they give the name that already occurs 
in Phny, Insula Tazata, which reminds us, perhaps by an 
accidental resemblance of sound, of the name of the river and 
bay, Tas, between the Ob and the Yenisej. Finally, the borders 
of the maps are often adorned with pictures of wonderfully 
formed men, whose dwellings the hunters placed in those 
reOTons, the names being at the same time given of a laro^er 
or smaller number of peoples and cities mentioned by Marco 
Polo. 

On the whole, the vo3^ages of the Portuguese to India and 
the Eastern archipelago, the discovery of America and the 
first circumnavigation of the globe, exerted little influence on the 
current ideas regarding the geography of North Asia. A new 
period in respect of our knowledge of this part of the old world 
first began with the publication of Herberstein's Eerum 
MoscoviticaruviCommentarii, Vindobonse 154!9.-^ This work has 
annexed to it a maj) with the title "Moscovia Sigismundi 
liberi baronis in Herberstein Neiperg et Gutnhag. Anno 
MDXLix. Hanc tabulam absolvit Aug. Hiesfogel Viennge 
Austrise cum gra. et privi. imp.,"^ which indeed embraces only 
a small part of Siberia, but shows that a knowledge of ISTorth 
Pussia now began to be based on actual observations, A large 
gulf, marked with the name Mare Glaciale (the present White 
Sea) here projects into the north coast of Pussia; from the 

1 See note at page 45, for an account of von Herberstein and his 
works. 

2 As the copy of the original map to which I have had access, being 
coloured, is unsuitable for j)hoto-Iithographing, I give here instead a photo- 
lithographic reproduction of the map in the Italian edition printed in 1550. 
The map itself is unchanged in any essential particular, but the drawing 
and engraving are better. There is, besides, a still older map of Russia in 
the first edition of Sebastian Miinster's Cosmographia Universalis. I have 
not had access to this edition, but have had to the third edition of the same 
Avork printed at Basel in 1550. "A very incomplete map of Russia engraved 
on wood, on which, however, the Obi and the "Sybir" are to be found, is 
inserted in this work at page 910. The Dwina here falls not into the White 
Sea but into the Gulf of Finland, through a lake to wliich the name Ladoga 
is now given ; places like Astracan, Asof , Viborg, Calmahori (Kolmogor), 
Solowki (Solovets), &c., are indicated pretty correctly, and in the White Sea 
there is to be seen a very faithful representation of a walrus swimming. 



518 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

south there falls into it a large river, called the Dwina. On 
the banks of the Dwina there are forts or towns with the 
names Solovoka (Solovets), Pinega, Colmogor, &c. There are 
to be found on the map besides, the names Mesen, Peczora, 
Oby,^ Tumen, &c. Oby runs out of a large lake named Kythay 
lacus. In the text, mention is made of Irtisch and Papingorod, 
of walruses and white bears ^ by the coast' of the Polar Sea, of 
the Siberian cedar-tree, of the Avord Samoyed signifying self- 
eaters, &c.^ The walrus is described in great detail. It is 
mentioned further that the Russian Grand Duke sent out two 
men, Simeon Theodoeovitsch Kurbski and Knes Pietiio 
UcHATOi, to explore the lands east of the Petchora, &c. 

Herberstein s work, where the narrative of I stoma's circum- 
navigation of the northern extremity of Europe, which has been 
already quoted, is to be found, was published only a few years 
before the first north-east voyages of the English and the Dutch, 
of which I have before given a detailed account. Through 
these the northernmost part of European Russia and the 
westernmost part of the Asiatic Polar Sea were mapped, but an 
actual knowledge of the north coast of Asia in its entirety 
was obtained through the conquest of Siberia by the Russians. 
It is impossible here to give an account of the campaigns, by 
which the whole of this enormous territory was brought under 
the sceptre of the Czar of Moscow, or of the private journeys for 
sport, trade, and the collecting of tribute, by which this conquest 
was facilitated. But as nearly every step which the Russian 
invaders took forward, also extended the knowledge of 
regions previously quite unknown, I shall mention the years in 
which during this conquest the most important occurrences in a 
geographical point of view took place, and give a rather more 
detailed account of the exploratory or military expeditions which 
led directly to important results affecting the extension of our 
knowledge of the geography of the region now in question. 

The way was prepared for the conquest of Siberia through 
peaceful commercial treaties ^ which a rich Russian peasant 

1 The river Ob is mentioned the first time in 1492, in the ne^'otiations 
which the Austrian ambassador, Michael Snups, carried on in Moscow in 
order to obtain permission to travel in the interior of Eussia (Adelimg, 
Uebersicht der Reisenden in Russland, Tp. 157). 

^ As before stated, Marco Polo mentions Polar bears but not walruses. 

3 Herodotus places Andropagi in nearly the same regions which are 
now inhabited by the Samoyeds. Pliny also speaks of man-eating- 
Scythians. 

■* Arctic literature contains a nearly contemporaneous sketch of the first 
Eussian-Siberian commercial undertakings, Beschryvinghe vander Samoyeden 
Landt in Tartarien, nieuUjcks onder't ghehiedt der Moscoviten gebracht. Wt 
de Russche tale overgheset, Anno 1609. Amsterdam, Hessel Gerritsz, 1612 ; 
inserted in Latin, in 1613, in the same pubUsher's Descrijptio ac Delineatio 



1 



XIII.] , KUSSIAN CONQUEST OF SIBERIA. 519 

Anika, ancestor of the Stroganov family, entered into with 
the wild races settled in Western Siberia, whom he even partially 
induced to pay a yearly tribute to the Czar of Moscow. In con- 
nection with this he and his sons, in the middle of the sixteenth 
century, obtained large grants of land on the rivers Kama and 
Chusovaja and their tributaries, with the right to build towns 
and forts there, whereby their riches, previously very considerable, 
were much increased. The family's extensive possessions, how- 
ever, were threatened in 1577 by a great danger, when a host of 
Cossack freebooters, six to seven thousand strong, under the 
leadership of Yermak Timofejev, took flight to the country 
round Chusovaja in order to avoid the troops which the Czar 
sent to subdue them and punish them for all the depredations 
they had committed on the Don, the Caspian Sea and the Volga. 
In order to get rid of the freebooters, Maxim Stroganov, 
Anika's grandson, not only provided Yermak and his men with 
the necessary sustenance, but supported in every way the bold 
adventurer's plan of entering on a campaign for the conquest of 
Siberia. This was begun in 1579. In 1580 Yermak passed the 
Ural, and after several engagements marched in particular 
against the Tartars living in Western Siberia, along the rivers 
Tagil and Tura to Tjumen, and thence in 1581 farther along 
the Tobol and Irtisch to Kutschum Khan's residence Sibir, 
situated in the neighbourhood of the present Tobolsk, It was 
this fortress, long since destroyed, which gave its name to the 
Avliole north part of Asia. 

From this point the Eussians, mainly following the great 
rivers, and passing from one river territory to another at the 
places where the tributaries almost met, spread out rapidly in 
all directions. Yermak himself indeed was drowned on the f th 
August, 1584, in the river Irtisch, but the adventurers who 
accompanied him overran in a few decades the whole of the 
enormous territory lying north of the deserts of Central Asia 
from Ural to the Pacific, everywhere strengthening their 
dominion by building Ostrogs, or small fortresses, at suitable 
places. It was the noble fur-yielding animals of the extensive 
forests of Siberia which played the same part with the Russian 
promyschleni, as gold with the Spanish adventurers in South 
America. 

At the close of the sixteenth century the Cossacks had 
already possessed themselves of the greater part of the river 
territory of the Irtisch-Ob, and sable-hunters had already gone 

GeograpMca Detectionis Freti (Photo-lithographic reproduction, by Fre- 
derick Muller, Amsterdam, 1878). The same work, or more correctl)', 
collection of small geographical pamphlets, contains also Isak Massa's 
map of the coast of the Polar Sea between the Kola peninsula and the 
Pjaisna, which I have reproduced. 



520 .THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

as far north-east^ as tlie river Tas, where the sable-hunting 
was at one time very productive and occasioned the founding of 
a town, Mangasej, which however was soon abandoned. In 1610 
the Russian fur-hunters went from the river territory of the 
Tas to the Yenisej, where the town Turuchansk was soon after 
founded on the Turuchan, a tributary of the Yenisej. The 
attempt to row down in boats from this point to the Polar Sea, 
with the view of penetrating farther along the sea coast, failed 
in consequence of ice obstacles, but led to the discovery of the 
river Pjasina and to the levying of tribute from the Samoyeds 
living there. To get farther eastward the tributaries of 
the Yenisej were made use of instead of the sea route. 
Following these the Russians on the upper course of the 
Tunguska met with the mountain ridge which separates the 
river territory of the Yenisej from that of the Lena. This ridge 
was crossed, and on the other side of it a new stream was met 
with, which in the year 1627 led the adventurers to the Lena, 
over whose river territory the Cossacks and fur-hunters, faithful to 
their customs, immediately spread themselves in order to hunt, 
purchase furs, and above all to impose " jassak " upon the tribes 
living thereabouts. But they were not satisfied with this. 
Already in 1636 the Cossack Elisej Busa was sent out with an 
express commission to explore the rivers beyond, falling into the 
Polar Sea, and to render tributary the natives living on their 
banks. He was accompanied by ten Cossacks, to whose 
company forty fur-hunters afterwards attached themselves. In 
1637 he came to the* western mouth-arm of the Lena, from 
which he went along the coast to the river Olenek, where he 
passed the winter. Next year he returned by land to the Lena, 
and built there two " kotsches," '^ in which he descended the 
river to the Polar Sea. After five days'" successful rowing along 
the coast to the eastward he discovered the mouth of the Yana. 
After three days' march up the river he fell in with a Yakut 
tribe, from whom he got a rich booty of sable and other furs. 
Here he passed the winter of 1638-39, here too he built 
himself a new craft, and again starting for the Polar Sea, he 

^ It is a peculiar circumstance that the vanguard of the Russian stream 
of emigration which spread over Siberia, advanced along the northernmost 
part of the cotmtry by the Tas, Turuchansk, Yakutsk, Kolyma, and Ana- 
dyrsk. This depended in the first place upon the races living there 
having less power of resistance against the invaders, who were often very 
few in number, than the tribes in the south, but also on the fact that the most 
precious and most transportable treasures of Siberia — sable, beaver, and fox- 
skins — were obtainedtin greatest quantity from these northern regions. 

^ Flat-bottomed, half-decked boats, twelve fathoms in length. The 
planks were fastened by wooden pins, the anchors were pieces of wood 
with large stones bound to them, the rigging of thongs, and the sails often 
of tanned reindeer hides (J. E. Fischer, Sibirische Geschichte, St. Peters- 
burg, 1768, i. p. 517). 



XIII.] THE COSSACKS PENETEATE TO THE KOLYMA. 521 

came to another river falling into the eastern mouth-arm of the 
Yana, where he fonnd a Yukagir tribe, living in earth huts, with 
whom he passed two years more, collecting tribute from the 
tribes living in the neighbourhood. 

At the same time IvANOV Postnik discovered by land the 
river Indigirka. As usual, tribute was collected from the 
neighbouring Yukagir tribes, yet not without fights, in which 
the natives at first directed their weapons against the horses 
the Cossacks had along with them, thinking that the horses 
were more dangerous than the men. They had not seen 
horses before. A simovie was established, at which sixteen 
Cossacks were left behind. They built boats, sailed down the 
river to the Polar Sea to collect tribute, and discovered the 
river Alasej. 

Some years after the river Kolyma appears to have been 
discovered, and in 1644 the Cossack, Michailo Staduchin, 
founded on that river a simovie, which afterwards increased to 
a small town, Nischni Kolymsk. Here Staduchin got three 
pieces of information which exerted considerable influence on 
later exploratory expeditions, for he acquired knowledge of the 
Chukches, at that time a military race, who possessed the part 
of North Asia which lay a little further to the east. Further, 
the natives and the Eussian hunters, who swarmed in the 
region before Staduchin, informed him that in the Polar Sea 
off the mouths of the Yana and the Indigirka there was a large 
island, which in clear weather could be seen from land, and 
which the Chukches reached in winter with reindeer sledges in 
one day from Chukotska, a river debouching in the Polar Sea 
east of the Kolyma. They brought home walrus tusks from 
the island, which was of considerable size, and the hunters 
supposed " that it was a continuation of Novaya Zemlya, which 
is visited by people from Mesen." Wrangel is of opinion that 
this account refers to no other than Krestovski Island, one of 
the Bear Islands. This, however, appears to me to be im- 
probable. It is much more likely that it refers partly to the 
New Siberian Islands, partly to Wrangel Land, and perhaps 
even to America. That the Russians themselves had not then ' 
discovered Ljachoff's, or a& it was then also called, Blischni 
Island, which lies so near the mainland, and is so high that it 
is impossible to avoid seeing it when one in clear weather sails 
past Svjatoinos, which lies east of the Yana, is a proof that at 
that time they had not sailed along the coast between the 
mouths of the Yana and the Indigirka. Finally, a great river, 
the Pogytscha, was spoken of, which could be reached in three 
or four days' sailing eastward from the mouth of the Kolyma. 
This was the first account which reached the conquerors of 
Siberia of the great river Anadyr which falls into the Pacific. 



522 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

These accounts were sufficient to incite tlie Cossacks and 
hunters to new expeditions. The beginning was made by IsAi 
Ignatiev from Mesen, who, along with several hunters, tra- 
velled down the Kol3rina in 1646 to the Polar Sea, and then 
along the coast eastwards. The sea was full of ice, but next 
the land there was an open channel, in which the explorers 
sailed two days. They then came to a bay, near whose shore 
they anchored. Here the Russians had their first meeting with 
the Chukches, to which reference has already been made. 
Hence Ignatiev returned to the Kolyma ; and the booty was 
considered so rich and his account of his journey so promising, 
that preparations were immediately made in order next year 
to send off a new maritime expedition fitted out on a larger 
scale to the coast of the Polar Sea. 

This time Feodot Alexejev from Kolmogor was chief of 
the expedition, but along with him was sent, at the request of 
the hunters, a Cossack in the Russian service in order to guard 
the rights of the crown. His name was SiMEON IvANOV SiN 
DeschneV; in geographical writings he is commonly known 
under the name of Deschnev. It was intended to search for 
the mouth of the great river lying towards the east, regarding 
which some information had been obtained from the natives, 
and which was believed to fall into the Polar Sea. The first 
voyage in 1647, with four vessels, was unsuccessful, it is said, 
because the sea was blocked with ice. But that this was not 
the real reason is shown by the fact that a new and larger 
expedition was fitted out the following year with full expecta- 
tion of success. The crews of the four boats had more probably 
been considered too weak a force to venture among the 
Chukches, and the ice had to bear the blame of the retreat. 
What man could not reproach the conquerors of Siberia with, 
was pusillanimity and want of perseverance in carrying out a 
plan which had once been sketched. Resistance always in- 
creased their power of action ; so also now. Seven boats were 
fitted out the following year, 1648, all which were to sail down 
to the Polar Sea, and then along the coast eastwards. The 
object was to examine closely the unknown land and people 
there, and to their own advantage and the extension of the 
Russian power, to collect tribute from the tribes met with 
duTing the expedition. Mtiller states that every boat was 
manned with about thirty men — a number which appears to 
me somewhat exaggerated, if we consider the nature of the 
Siberian craft and the difficulty of feeding so large a number 
either with provisions carried along with them or obtained 
by hunting. 

Four of the boats are not mentioned further in the narrative ; 
they appear to have returned at an early period. The three 



xiii.]. DESCHNEV'S VOYAGES 523 

others, on the contrary, made a highly remarkable journey. 
The commanders of them were the Cossacks, Gerasim 
Ankudinov and Simeon Deschnev, and the hunter Feodot 
Alexejev. Deschnev entertained such hopes of success that 
before his departure he promised to collect a tribute of seven 
times forty sable skins. The Siberian archives, according to 
Miiller, contain the following details.^ 

On |"th June, 1648, a start was made from the Kolyma. The 
sea was open ; at least the boats came without any adventure 
which Deschnev thought worth the trouble of noting in his 
narrative to Great Chukotskojnos. Of this cape Deschnev 
says that it is quite different from the cape at the river 
Chukotskaja. For it lies between north and north-east, and 
bends with a rounding towards the Anadyr, On the Russian 
side a rivulet runs into the sea, at which the Chukches had 
raised a heap of whales' bones. E,ight off the cape lie two 
islands, on which people of Chukch race with perforated lips 
were seen. From this cape it is possible with a favourable 
wind to sail to the Anadyr in three days, and the way is not 
longer by land, because the Anadyr falls into a gulf of the 
sea. At Chukotskojnos or, according to Wrangel at a "holy 
promontory," Svjatoinos (Serdze Kamen -?) previously reached, 
Ankudinov's craft was shipwrecked. The crew were saved, 
and distributed on Deschnev's and Alexejev's boats. On the 
IJth September the Russians had a fight with the Chukches 
living on the coast, in which fight Alexejev was wounded. 
Soon after Deschnev's and Alesejev's " kotsches " were parted 
never to meet again. 

Deschnev was driven about by storms and head-winds until 
past the beginning of October. Finally his vessel stranded near 
the mouth of the river Olutorsk, in 61° IST.L. Hence he marched 
with his twenty-five men to the Anadyr, He had expected 
to meet with some natives in its lower course, but the region 
was uninhabited, which caused the invaders much trouble, 
because they suffered from want of provisions. Although 

1 G.P. Miiller, Sammlung Russischej' GescMchte, St, Petersburg, 1758. Miiller 
asserts in this work that it was he who, in 1736, first drew from the repositories 
of the Yakutsk archives the account of Deschnev's voyage, which before 
that time Avas known neither at the court of the Czar nor in the remotest 
parts of Siberia. This, however, is not quite correct, for long before 
Miiller, the Swedish prisoner-of-war, Strahlenberg, knew that the Russians 
travelled by sea from the Kolyma to Kamchatka, which appears from his 
maj) of Asia, constructed during his stay in Siberia, and published in Das 
Nord- und Ostliche Theil von Euroioa und Asia, Stockholm, 1730. On this 
map there is the following inscription in the sea north of the Kolyma : — 
"Hie Rutheni ab initio per" Moles glaciales, quse flante Borea ad Littora, 
flanteque Austro versus Mare iterum pulsantur, magno Lahore et Vitas 
iJiscrimine trans vecti sunt ad Kegionem Kamtszatkam-" 



524 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Desclinev could not obtain from the' natives any augmentation 
of the certainly very small supply of food which he carried 
with him, he succeeded nevertheless in passing the winter in 
that region. First in the course of the following summer did 
he fall in with natives, from whom a large tribute was collected, 
but not without fierce conflicts. A simovie was built at the 
place where afterwards Anadyrski Ostrog was founded. While 
Deschnev remained here, at a loss as to how, when the boats 
were broken up, he would be able to return to the Kolyma, 
or find a way thither by land, there came suddenly on the 
'^^"^,°'^'., 1650, a new party of hunters to his winter hut. 

:i5th April, ' i. J 

Eor the accounts of islands in the Polar Sea, and of the river 
Pogytscha, which was said to fall into the sea three or four days' 
journey beyond the Kolyma, had led to the sending out of another 
expedition under the Cossack Staduchin. He started from 
Yakutsk in boats on the fth June, 1647, wintered on the Yana, 
travelled thence in sledges to Indigirka, and there again built 
boats in which he rowed to the Kolyma. It is to be observed 
that Staduchin, just because he preferred the land-route to the 
sea-route between the Yana and the Indigirka, missed discover- 
ing the large island in the Polar Sea, of which so much has 
been said. Next summer (1649) Staduchin again sailed down 
the river Kolyma to the sea, and then for seven days along its 
coast eastwards, without finding the mouth of the river sought for 
by him. He therefore returned with his object unaccomplished, 
carrying with him a heap of walrus-tusks, which were sent 
to Yakutsk as an appendix to a proposal to send out hunters 
to the Polar Sea to hunt for these animals. In the mean- 
time a true idea of the course of the Anadyr had been obtained 
through statements collected from the natives, and a land-route 
had become known between its territory and that of the Kolyma. 
Several Cossacks and hunters now petitioned for the right to 
settle on the Anadyr, and collect tribute from the tribes in that 
neighbourhood. This was granted. Some natives were forced 
to act as guides. The party started under the command of 
Simeon Motora, and came finally to Deschnev's simovie on the 
Anadyr. Staduchin followed, and traversed the way in seven 
weeks. He however soon quarrelled with Deschnev and Motora, 
and parting from them on that account, betook himself to the 
river Penschina. Deschnev and Motora built themselves boats 
on the Anadyr in order to prosecute exploratory voyages, but 
the latter was killed in 1651 in a fight with natives called 
Anauls. They had been the first of all the natives of the 
Pacific coast of North Asia to pay "jassak" to Deschnev, and 
he had already at that time come into collision with them 
and extirjDated one of their tribes. 

In 1652 Deschnev travelled down the Anadyr to the river 



XIII ] FATE OF ANKUDINOV'S PART^. 525 

mouth, where he discovered a walrus-bank, whence he brought 
home wabus-tusks. There afterwards arose a dispute between 
Deschnev and Sehvestrov ^ regarding the rights founded on the 
discovery of this walrus -bank, which came before the authorities 
at Yakutsk, and it was from the documents relating to it that 
Miiller obtained the information that enabled him to give a 
narrative of Deschnev's expedition. Only in this way have 
the particulars of this remarkable voyage been rescued from 
complete oblivion.^ 

In 1653 Deschnev gave orders to collect wood to build craft 
in which he intended to carry home by sea the tribute he 
had collected to the Kolyma, but he was compelled to desist 
from want of the necessary materials for the building and equip- 
ment of the boats, comforting himself with the statement of 
the natives that the sea was not always so open as during 
his first voyage. Compelled by necessity, he remained a year 
longer at the Anadyr, and in 1654 undertook a new hunting 
voyage to the walrus-bank, where he met with the before- 
mentioned Selivestrov. He here came in contact with the 
natives (Koryaks), and found among them a Yakut woman, who 
had belonged to Ankudinov. On asking her where her master 
had gone to, she answered that Feodot and Gerasim (Ankudinov) 
had died of scurvy, and that their companions had been killed 
with the exception of some few, who had saved themselves in 
boats. It appears as if the latter had penetrated along the 
coast as far as to the river Kamchatka. For when Kamchatka 
was conquered by Atlassov in 1697 the natives stated that a 
long time before one Feodotov (probably a son of Feodot 
Alexejev) had lived among them along with some companions, 
and had married their women. They were venerated almost 
as gods. They were believed to be invulnerable until they 
struck another, when the Kamchadals saw their mistake and 
killed them.^ 

By the expeditions of Deschnev, Staduchin, and their 
companions, the Russians had by degrees become acquainted 
with the course of the Anadyr and with the tribes living on 
its banks. But it still remained for them to acquire a more 

1 Selivestrov had accompanied Staduchin during his Polar Sea voyage, 
and had, at his instance, been sent out to collect walrus-tusks on account of 
the State. He appears to have come to the Anadyr by land. 

^ Strahlenberg must have collected the main details of this voyage by 
oral communications from Russian hunters and traders. 

^ According to Miiller. Krascheninnikov {Ilistoire et description du 
KamtschatJca, Amsterdam, 1770, ii. p. 292) states, evidently from infor- 
mation obtained in Kamchatka, that the river Nikul is called Feodot- 
ovchina after Feodot Alexejev, who not only penetrated thither, but also 
sailed round the southern promontory of Kamchatka to the River Tigil, 
where he and his followers perished in the way described by Miiller. 



526 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chai'. 

complete knowledge of the islands wliicli were said to be situated 
in the Polar Sea, and one must be surprised at the extreme 
difficulties which were encountered in attempting the solution 
of this apparently very simple geographical problem. The 
reason indeed was that the Siberian seamen never ventured 
to leave the immediate neighbourhood of the coast, a precaution 
which besides is very easily explained when the bad construction 
of their craft is considered. Along the shore of the Polar Sea 
on the other hand, a very active communication appears to have 
taken place between the Lena and the Kolyma, though of those 
voyages we only know such as in one way or another gave rise 
to actions before the courts or were characterised by specially 
remarkable dangers or losses. 

In 1650 Andeej Goeeloj was sent by sea from Yakutsk 
to impose tribute on the tribes that lived at the sources of 
the Indigirka, and on the Moma, a tributary of the Indigirka. 
He passed Svjatoinos successfully, and reached the mouth of 
the Kroma, but was there beset by ice, with which he drifted 
out to sea. After drifting about ten days he was compelled 
to abandon the vessel, which was soon after nipped, and 
go on foot over the ice to land. On the ~ November he 
came to the simovie Ujandino, where famine prevailed during 
the winter, hecmcse the vessels, that should have brought pro- 
visions to the place, had either heen lost or heen compelled to 
turn; a statement which proves that at that time a regular 
navigation took place between certain parts of the coast of the 
Polar Sea. 

The same year, the Cossack, Timofej Buldakov travelled 
by sea from the Lena to the Kolyma to take over the command 
of the neighbouring region. He reached the Kroma success- 
fully, but was beset there and drifted out to sea. He then 
determined to endeavour to get to land over the ice. But this 
was no easy matter. The ice, which already was three feet 
thick, went suddenly into a thousand pieces, while the vessel 
drove before a furious gale farther and farther from the shore. 
This was repeated several times. When the sea at last froze 
over, the vessel was abandoned, and the party finally succeeded, 
worn out as they were by hunger, scurvy, work, and cold, in 
reaching land at the mouth of the Indigirka. The narrative of 
Buldakov's voyage is, besides, exceedingly remarkable, because a 
meeting is there spoken of with twelve " kotsches," filled with 
Cossacks, traders, and hunters, bound partly from the Lena to 
the rivers lying to the eastward, partly from the Kol3niia and 
Indigirka to the Lena, a circumstance which shows how active 
the communication then was in the part of the Siberian Polar 
Sea in question. This is further confirmed by a narrative of 
NiKiFOE Malgin. While Knes Ivan Peteovitsch Baejatin- 



XIII.]. MERCUREJ WAGIN. 527 

SKY was vojvode at Yakutsk (1667-75), Malgin travelled along 
■with a trader, Andrej Woripajev, by sea from the Lena to the 
Kolyma. During this voyage the pilot directed the attention of 
all on board to an island, lying far out at sea, west of the mouth 
of the Kolyma. In course of a conversation regarding it, after 
Malgin had succeeded in reaching the Kolyma, another trader, 
Jakob Wiatka, stated that on one occasion when he was sailing 
with nine " kotsches " between the Lena and the Kolyma, three 
of them had been driven by wind to this island, and that 
the men who had been sent ashore there, found traces of 
unknown animals, but no inhabitants. 

All these narratives, however, do not appear to have met with 
full credence. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
accordingly, new explorations and new expeditions were under- 
taken. A Cossack, Jakob Permakov, stated that during a 
voyage between the Lena and the Kolyma, he had seen oft 
Svjatoinos an island, of which he knew not whether it was 
inhabited or not, and likewise, that off the mouth of the Kolyma 
there was an island which could be seen from land. In order to 
make sure of the correctness of this statement, a Cossack, 
Mercurej Wagin, was sent out. He travelled along with 
Permakov, in the month of May, in dog-sledges over the 
ice from Svjatoinos to the island lying off it, that Permakov 
had seen. They landed there, found it uninhabited and treeless, 
and fixed its circumference at nine to twelve days' journey. 
Beyond this island Wagin saw another, which, however, he could 
not reach for want of provisions. He therefore determined to 
turn, in order to undertake the journey the following year in a 
better state of preparation. During the return journey the 
party suffered severely from hunger, and in order to avoid 
a renewal of the dangerous and difficult journey of exploration, 
the men at last murdered Permakov, Wagin, and his son. The 
crime was discovered, and the knowledge we possess of this 
expedition is founded on the confused information obtained 
during the examination of the murderers. Mtiller even throws 
doubts on the truth of the whole narrative. 

The attempts which were afterwards made to reach those 
islands, partly by sea in 1712, by Wasilej Staduchin, partly 
by dog-sledges in 1714 by Alexej Markov and Grigorej 
Kusakov, yielded no result. Ten years afterwards, "the old 
saga" of the islands in the Polar Sea, induced one Sin Bajorski 
Feodot Amossov to undertake an expedition with a view to 
impose tribute on their inhabitants, but he was prevented by 
ice from reaching his goal. On the way he met with a hunter, 
Ivan Willegin, who said, that along with another hunter, 
Grigorej Sankin, he had travelled over the ice to these islands 
from the mouth of the river ChukOtskaja, He had seen neither 



528 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

men nor trees, but some abandoned huts. " Probably this land ex- 
tends all the way from the mouth of the Yana, past the Indigirka 
and Kolyma to the region which is inhabited by the Schelags, a 
Chukch tribe." He had learned this from a Schelag named 
Kopai, at whose home he had been the preceding year. In 
order to reach this land by sea it was necessary to start from 
the coast which the Schelags inhabited, because the sea was less 
covered by ice there. 

As Amossov could not reach his goal by sea he travelled 
thither the same year, in November, 1724, over the ice, but his 
description of the land differs widely from that of his prede- 
cessor, and Miiller appears to entertain great doubts of the 
truthfulness of the narrative.^ On the ground of a map con- 
structed by the Cossack, Colonel Schestakov, who, however, ac- 
cording to Miiller, could neither read nor write, this new land was 
introduced into Delisle and Buache's map, with the addition 
that the Schelag Kopai lived there, and had there been taken 
prisoner by the Russians. This is so far incorrect, as Kopai did 
not live on any island, but on the mainland, and never was 
prisoner with the Russians, although after having paid tribute 
to them, he tired of doing so, and killed some of Amossov's 
people, after which no more was heard of him. Miiller com- 
plains loudly of the incorrect statement regarding Kopai, but 
the learned academician commits a much greater mistake, inas- 
much as he considers that he ought to leave the numerous 
accounts of hunters and Cossacks about land and islands in the 
Siberian Polar Sea completely out of account. All these lands 
ar^' therefore left out of the map published by the Petersburg 
Academy in the year 1758.^ It is in this respect much more 
incomplete than the map which accompanies Strahlenberg's 
book.^ 

Before I begin to sketch the explorations of the great 

^ But we ought to remember that the oldest accounts of islands in the 
Polar Sea relate to no fewer than four different lands, viz., 1. The New 
Siberian Islands lying ofE the mouth of the Lena and Svjatoinos; 2. 
The Bear Islands; 3. Wrangel Land; 4. The north-western part of 
America. Contradictions in accounts of the islands in the Polar Sea 
probably depend on the uninhabited and treeless New Siberian islands 
being confused with America, which, in comparison with North Siberia, is 
thickly peopled and well wooded, with the small Bear Islands, with 
Wrangel Land, &c. 

^ Nouvelle carte des decouvertes faites par des vaisseaux russiens aux 
cotes inconnues de VAmerique Septentrionale avec les pais adiacentes, dressee 
sur des memoires authentiques des ceux qui ont assiste a ces decouvertes 
et sur dUmtres connoissances dont on rend raison dans un memoire separe. 
St. Petersbourg, I'Academie Imperiale des Sciences, 1758. 

3 In this sketch of the discovery and conquest of Siberia I have followed 
J. E. Fischer, Sibirische Geschichte, St. Petersburg, 1768, and G. P. Miiller, 
Sammlung RussiscJier Geschichte, St. Fetershurg, 1758. 



XIII.] 



THE DISCOVERY OF KAMCHATKA. 



529 



northern expedition, some account remains to be given of the 
discovery of Kamchatka, It appears from the preceding that 
Kamchatka was already reached by some of Deschnev's fol- 
lowers, but their important discovery was completely unknown 
in Moscow. Kamchatka is,Tiowever, already mentioned in the 
narrative of Evert Ysbrants Ides' embassy to China in 1693-95 ; ^ 
accounts of it had probably been obtained from the Siberian 
natives, who are accustomed to wander far and near. These 
accounts, however, are exceedingly incomplete, and therefore, 
VoLODOMiR Atlassov, pidtidesdtnik (i.e., commander of fifty 
men) at Anadyrsk, is considered the proper discoverer of 
Kamchatka. 

While Atlassov was commander at Anadyrsk, he sent out in 
1696, the Cossack Lucas Semenov Sin Morosko with sixteen 
men to bring the tribe living to the south under tribute. The 
commission was executed, and on his return Morosko stated that 
he not only was among the Koryaks, but had also penetrated to 
the neighbourhood of the river Kamchatka, and that- he took 
a Kamchadal " ostrog," and found in it some manuscripts in an 
unknown language, which, according to information afterwards 
obtained, had belonged to some Japanese who had stranded on 
the coast of Kamchatka.^ It was the first hint the conquerors 
of Siberia obtained of their being in the neighbourhood of 
Japan. 

The year after Atlassov, with a larger force, followed the way 
which Morosko had opened up, and penetrated to the river 
Kamchatka, where as a sign that he had taken possession of the 
land, he erected a cross with an inscription, which when trans- 
lated runs thus : In the year 7205 (i.e. 1697) on the ISth July 
this cross was erected ly the pidtidesdtnik Volodomir Atlassov and, 
his followers, 55 men. Atlassov then built on the Kamchatka 
river a simovie, which was afterwards fortified and named Verchni 
Kamtschatskoj Ostrog. Hence the Russians extended their 
power over the land, yet not without resistance, which was 
first completely broken by the cruel suppression of the rebellion 
of 1730. 

In 1700 Atlassov travelled to Moscow, carrying with him 

^ In the twentieth chapter of Dreyjahrige Reise nach China, &c., Frank- 
fort, 1707. The first edition came out at Hamburg in 1698. 

^ Miiller, iii. p. 19. An account of Atlassov's conquest of Kamchatka 
(Bericht gedaen door zeker Moskovisch hrygs-bediende Wolodinier Otlasofd, 
hooft-man over vyftig, &c.) is besides to be found in Witsen (1705, Nieuwe 
uitguaf, 1785, p. 670). An account, written from oral communication by 
Atlassov himself, is to be found inserted in Strahlenberg's Travels, p. 431. 
Strahlenberg considers Kamchatka and Yezo to be the same land. A 
history of the conquest of Kamchatka, evidently written according to 
traditions current in the country, is to be found in Krascheninnikov (French 
edition of 1770, ii. p. 291). In this account 1698 and 1699 are given as the 
years of Morosko' s and Atlassov's expeditions. 

■■' ' M M 



530 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA," [chap. 

a Japanese, who had been taken prisoner after being ship- 
wrecked on the coast of Kamchatka, and the collected tribute 
which consisted of the skins of 3,200 sables, 10 sea-otters, 
7 beavers, 4 otters, 10 grey foxes and 191 red foxes. He was 
received graciously, and sent back as commander of the Cossacks 
in Yakutsk with orders to complete the conquest of Kamchatka. 
An interruption however happened for some time in the path 
of Atlassov as a warrior and discoverer, in consequence of his 
having during his return journey to Yakutsk plundered a 
Russian vessel laden with Chinese goods, an accessory circum- 
stance which deserves to be mentioned for the light which it 
throws on the character of this Pizarro of Kamchatka. He 
was not set free until the year 1706, and then recovered his 
command in Kamchatka, with strict orders to desist from all 
arbitrary proceedings and acts of violence, and to do his best 
for the discovery of new lands. The first part of this order he 
however complied with only to a limited extent, which gave 
occasion to repeated complaints ^ and revolts among the already 
unbridled Cossacks, Finally, in 1711, Atlassov and several 
other officers were murdered by their own countrymen. In 
order to atone for this crime, and perhaps to get a little farther 
from the arm of justice, their murderers, Anziphorov and Ivan 
KosiREVSKOJ,^ undertook to subdue the not yet conquered part 
of Kamchatka, and the two northernmost of the Kurile 
Islands. Further information about the countries lying farther 
south was obtained from some Japanese who were shipwrecked 
in 1710 on Kamchatka. 

At first in order to get to Kamchatka the difficult detour by 
Anadyrsk was taken. But in the year 1711 the commander at 
Okotsk, Sin Bojarski Peter Guturov, was ordered, by the 
energetic promoter of exploratory expeditions in Eastern Siberia, 
the Yakutsk voivode, DoROFEJ Trauernicht, to proceed by sea 
from Okotsk to Kamchatka. But this voyage could not come 

1 Complaints were made, among other things, that in order to obtain 
metal for making a still, he ordered all the copper belonging to the crown 
which he carried with him, to be melted down. When the Cossacks first 
came to Kamchatka and were, almost without a contest, acknowledged as 
masters of the country, they found life there singularly agreeable, with one 
drawback — there were no means of getting drunk. Finally, necessity 
compelled the wild adventurers to betake themselves to what we should 
now call chemico-technical experiments, which are described in con- 
siderable detail by Krascheninnikov (loc. cit. ii. p. 369). After many 
failures they finally succeeded in distilling spirits from a sugar-bearing 
plant growing in the country, and from that time this drink, or raka, 
as they themselves call it, has been found in great abundance in that 
country. 

2 He afterwards became a monk under the name of Ignatiev, came to 
St. Petersburg in 1730, and himself wrote a narrative of his adventures, 
discoveries, and services, which was printed first in the St. Petersburg- 
journals of the 26th March, 1730, and likewise abroad (Muller, iii. p. 82). 



XIII.] . THE SEA OF OKOTSK OPENED TO NAVIGATION. 531 

off because at that time there were at Okotsk neither seagoing 
boats, seamen, nor even men accustomed to the use of the com- 
pass. Some years after the governor Prince Gagaein sent to 
that town Ivan Sorokaumov with twelve Cossacks to make 
arrangements for this voyage. For want of ships and seamen 
however, this could not now be undertaken, and after Sorokau- 
mov had created great confusion he was imprisoned by the 
authorities of the place, and sent back to the Governor. 
Peter I. now commanded that men acquainted with navigation 
should he sought for among the Swedish prisoners of war 
and sent to Okotsk; that they should build a hoat there and, 
provided with a compass, go hy sea along loith some Cossacks 
to Kamchatka and return} Thus navigation began on the 
Sea of Okotsk. Among the Swedes who opened it, is men- 
tioned Henry Busch,^ according to Strahlenberg a Swedish 
corporal, who had previously been a ship-carpenter. According to 
Mtiller, who met with him at Yakutsk as late as 1736, he 
was born at Hoorn in Holland, had served at several places 
as a seaman, and finally among the Swedes as a trooper, until 
he was taken prisoner at Viborg in 1706. He gave Miiller 
the following account of his first voyage across the Sea of 
Okotsk. 

After arriving at Okotsk they had built a Vessel, resembling 
the lodjas used at Archangel and Mesen for sailing on the White- 
Sea and to Novaya Zemlya. The vessel was strong ; its length 
was eight and a half fathoms, its breadth three fathoms, the 
freeboard, when the vessel was loaded, three and a half feet. 
The first voyage took place in June 1716. The voyagers 
began to sail along the coast towards the north-east, but 
an unfavourable wind drove the vessel; almost against the 
will of the seafarers, right across the sea to Kamchatka. 
The first land sighted was a cape which juts out north 
of the river Tigil. Being unacquainted with the coast 
the seafarers hesitated to land. During the delay a change 
of wind took place, whereby the vessel was driven back 
towards the coast of Okotsk. The wind again becoming 
favourable, the vessel was put about and anchored successfully 
in the Tigil. The men who were sent ashore found the 
houses deserted. For the Kamchadales being terrified at the 

■^, Von Baer, Beitrdge zur Kentniss des Russischen Reiches, xvi. p. 33. 

- Ambjorn Molin, lieutenant in the Scanian cavalry regiment, who was 
taken prisoner at the Dnieper in 1709, also took part in these journeys. 
Compare Berdttelse om de i Stora Tartariet hoende tartarer, som trdffatff 
Idngst nordost i Asien, pa drkehisJcop E. Benzelii begdran upsatt af Amhjdru 
Molin {Account of the Tartars dioelling in Great Tartary who were met with, 
at the north-east extremity of Asia, written at the request of Archbishop 
E. Benzelius by Ambjorn MoTm), published in Stockholm in 1880 by Aug. 
Strindberg, after a manuscript in the Linkoping library. 

M M 2 



532 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

large ship had made their escape to the woods. The seafarers 
sailed on along the coast and landed at several places in order 
that they might meet with the inhabitants, but for a long time 
without success, until at last they fell in with a Kamchadal 
girl, who was collecting edible roots. With her as a guide they 
soon found dwellings, and even Cossacks, who had been sent out 
to collect tribute. They wintered at the river Kompakova. 
During the winter the sea cast up a whale, which had in its 
carcase a harpoon of European manufacture and with Latin 
letters. The vessel left the winter haven in the middle of 
May (new style) 1717, but meeting with ice-fields was beset 
in them for five and a half weeks. This occasioned great 
scarcity of provisions. In the end of July the seafarers were 
again back at Okotsk. From this time there has been regular 
communication by sea between this town and Kamchatka. 
The master of the vessel during the first voyage across the 
Sea of Okotsk was the Cossack Sokolov.^ 

From what I have stated it follows that, thanks to the 
fondness of the hunters and Cossacks for adventurous explor- 
atory expeditions, the current ideas regarding the distribution 
of the land and the courses of the rivers in north-eastern Asia 
were in the main correct. But, in consequence of want of 
knowledge of, or of doubts regarding, Deschnev's discoveries, 
there prevailed an uncertainty whether Asia at its north-east 
extremity was connected with America by a small neck of land, 
in the same way as it is with Africa, or as North and South 
America are connected with each other, a view which, in 
consequence of the unscientific necessity of generalisiug 
inherent in man, and the wish to have an explanation of 
how the population extended from the old to the new world, 
was long zealously defended.^ No one, either European or 
native, had yet, so far as we know, extended his hunting- 
journeys to the northernmost promontory of Asia, in conse- 
quence of which the position which it was assumed to occupy 
only depended on loose suppositions. It was possible for 

1 Miiller, iii. p. 102. According to an oral communication by Buscli, 
Stratilenberg's account (p. 17) of this voyage appears to contain several 
mistakes. Tiie year is stated as 1713, the return voyage is said to have 
occupied six days. 

^ As late as 1819, James Burney, first lieutenant on one of Captain 
Cook's vessels during his voyage north of Behring's Straits, afterwards 
captain and member of the Royal Society, considered it not proved that 
Asia and America are separated by a sound. For he doubted the correct- 
ness of the accounts of Deschnev's voyage. Compare James Burney, A 
Chronological History of North-eastern Voyages of Discovery. London, 1819, 
p. 298 ; and a paper by Burney in the Transactions of the Royal Society, 
1817. Burney was violently attacked for the views there expressed by 
Captain John Dundas Cochrane. Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through 
Russia and Siberian Tartary, 2nd ed. London, 1824, Appendix. 



xm.] 



MAP OF ASIA/ 



533 



instance that Asia stretched with a cape as far as to the 
neighbourhood of the Pole, or that a broad isthmus between the 
Pjasina and the Olenek connected the known portion of this 
quarter of the world with an Asiatic Polar continent. Nor had 
geographers a single actual determination of position or 
geographical measurement from the whole of the immense 
stretch between the mouth of the Ob and Japan, and there was 
complete uncertainty as to the relative position of the eastern- 
most possessions of the Russians on the one side and of Japan 




■•' iKAFRE|RI } \f^^ MJORE ; IND^SKOJE "'' 



MA.P OF ASIA. 

Prom an Atlas published by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1737. 

on the other.^ It was difficult to get the maps of the Eussians 
to correspond with those of the Portuguese and the Dutch, at 
the point where the discoveries of the different nations touched 
each other ; which also was exceedingly natural, as at that time 
too limited an extent east and west by 1700 kilometres was 
commonly assigned to Siberia. In order to investigate this 
point, in order to fill up the great blank which still existed in 

^ The first astronomical determinations of position in Siberia were, per- 
haps, made by Swedish prisoners of war ; the first in China by Jesuits 
(Cf. Strahlenbtrg, p. 14). 



534 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

the knowledge of the quarter of the world first inhabited by 
man, and perhaps above all for the purpose of forming new 
commercial treaties and of discovering new commercial routes, 
Peter the Great during the latest years of his life arranged one 
of the greatest geographical expeditions which the history of 
the world can show. It was not until after his death, however, 
that it was carried out, and then it went on 'for a series of years 
on so large a scale that whole tribes are said to have been 
impoverished through the severe exactions of transport that 
were on its account imposed on the inhabitants of the Siberian 
deserts. Its many different divisions are now comprehended 
under the name — the Great Northern Expedition. Through the 
writings of Behring, Miiller, Gmelin, Steller, Krascheninnikov 
and others, this expedition has acquired an important place for 
all time in the history not only of geography but also of 
ethnography, zoology, and botany ; and even now the inquirer, 
when the natural conditions of North Asia are in question, 
must return to these works. I shall therefore, before drawing 
this chapter to a close, give a brief account of its principal 
features. 

The Great Northern Expedition was ushered in by " the first 
expedition to Kamchatka " The commander of this expediti(m 
was the Dane Vitus Behring, who was accompanied by 
Lieutenant Morton Spangberg, also a Dane by birth, and 
Alexei Chirikov. They left St. Petersburg in February 1725, 
and took the land route across Siberia, carrying with them the 
necessary materials with which in Kamchatka to build and 
equip the vessel with which they should make their voyage of 
exploration. More than three years were required for this 
voyage, or rather for this geographico-scientific campaign ; in 
which for the transport of the stores and the shijjbuilding material 
that had to be taken from Europe the rivers Irtisch, Ob, Ket, 
Yenisej, Tunguska, Ilim, Aldan, Maja, Yudoma, and Urak were 
taken advantage of. It was not until the jth April that a be- 
ginning could be made at Nischni Kamchatskoj Ostrog of the 
building of the vessel, which was launched on the j^* July ; 
and on the ^ of the same month Behring began his voyage. 

He sailed in a north-easterly direction along the coast of 
Kamchatka, which he surveyed. On the "th August in 64° 30' 
N.L. he fell in with Chukches, who had still a reputation among 
the Russians for invincible courage and ferocity. First one of 
them came to the vessel, swimming on two inflated seal-skins, 
" to inquire what was intended by the vessel's coming thither," 
after which their skin-boat lay to. Conversation was carried on 
with them by means of a Koryak interpreter. On the ||^ 
August St. Lawrence Island was discovered, and on the fBth of 
the same month the explorers sailed past the north-eastern 



XIII.] BEHRING'S SECOND VOYAGE. ' 535 

promontory of Asia in 67° 18' and observed that the coast trends 
to the west from that point, as the Chukches had before informed 
them. Behring on this account considered that he had fulfilled 
his commission to ascertain whether Asia and America were 
separated, and he now determined to turn, " partly because if the 
voyage were continued along the coast ice might be met with, 
from which it might not be so easy to get clear, partly on account 
of the fogs, which had already begun to prevail, and partly 
because it would be impossible, if a longer stay were made 
in these regions, to get back the same summ.er to Kamchatka. 
There could be no question of passing the winter off the coast 
of the Chukch Peninsula, because that would have been to expose 
the expedition to certain destruction, either by being wrecked on 
the jagged rocks of the open unknown coast, or by perishing from 
want of fuel, or finally by dying under the hands of the fierce 
unconquered Chukches." On the „l^l °''*' the vessel returned to 

T. 20th oept. 

Nischni Kamchatskoj Ostrog.^ It was during this voyage that 
the sound, which has since obtained the name of Behrinff's 
Straits, is considered to have been discovered. But it is 
now known that this discovery properly belongs to the gallant 
hunter Deschnev, who sailed through these straits eighty yeare 
before. I suppose therefore that the geographical world will 
with pleasure embrace the proposal to attach the name of 
Deschnev along with that of Behring to this part of our globe ; 
which may be done by substituting Cape Deschnev, as the name 
of the easternmost promontory of Asia, for that of East Cape, an 
appellation which is misleading and unsuitable in many respects. 
Several statements by Kamchadales regarding a great country 
towards the east on the other side of the sea, induced Behring 
the following year to sail away in order to ascertain whether this 
was the case. In consequence of unfavourable weather he did not 
succeed in reaching the coast of America, but returned with his 
object unaccomplished, after which he sailed to Okotsk, where 
he arrived on the P-;^ 1729. Hence he betook himself 
immediately to St. Petersburg, which he reached after a journey 
of six months and nine days. 

In maps published during Behring' s absence, partly by Swedisli 
officers who had returned from imprisonment in Siberia,^ Kam- 
chatka had been delineated with so long an extension towards 

1 A short, but instructive account of Behring's first voyage, based on an 
official communication from the Eussian Government to the King of Poland, 
is inserted in t. iv. p. 561 of Descrijjtion geographique de V Empire cle la 
Chine, par le P. J. B. Du Halde, La Haye, 1736. The same official report 
was probably the source of Miiller's brief sketch of the voyage {Miiller, 
iii. p. 112). A map of it is inserted in the 1735 Paris edition of Du Halde's 
work, and in Nouvel Atlas de la Chhie, 2Mr M. D'Anville, La Haye, 1737. 

^ Histoire genealogique des Tartares (note, p. 107), and Strahlenberg's oft- 
quoted work (map, text, pp. 31 and 384). 



536 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

the south that this peninsula was connected with Yezo, the 
northernmost of the large Japanese islands. The distance 
between Kamchatka and Japan, rich in wares, would thus have 
been quite inconsiderable. This nearness was believed to be 
further confirmed by another Japanese ship, manned by seven- 
teen men and laden with silk, rice, and paper, having stranded 
in July 1729 on Kamchatka, south of Avatseha Bay. In this 
neighbourhood there was, along with a number of natives, a 
small party of Cossacks under the command of Andreas 
ScHTlNNiKOV. He at first accepted several presents from the 
shipwrecked men, but afterwards withdrew from the place where 
the wreck took place. When the Japanese on this account 
rowed on in their boats along the coast, Schtinnikov gave orders 
to follow them in a haydar and kill them all but two. The cruel 
deed was carried into execution, on which the malefactors took 
possession of the goods, and broke in pieces the boats in order to 
obtain the iron with which the boards were fastened together. 
The two Japanese who were saved were carried to Nischni 
Kamchatskoj Ostrog. Here Schtinnikov was imprisoned and 
hanged for his crime. The Japanese were sent to St. Petersburg, 
where they learned the Russian language and were converted to 
Christianity, while some Russians in their turn learned Japanese. 
The Japanese died between 1736 and 1739. Both were from 
Smatsua ; the elder, SosA, had been a merchant, and the younger, 
GoNSA, was a pilot's son. Their vessel had been bound for 
Osaka, but having been carried out of its course by a storm, had 
drifted about at sea for six months, stranding at last with so 
unfortunate a result for the greater part of the crew. 

This sad occurrence further reminds us that much still 
remained unaccomplished with respect to the geography of 
north-eastern Asia. Behring's Kamchatka expedition had 
besides yielded no information regarding the position of the 
northern extremity of Asia, or of the part of America lying 
opposite to Kamchatka. A number of grave doubts appear 
besides to have been started as to the correctness of the 
observations during Behring's first voyage. All this induced 
him to make proposals for a continuation of his explorations, 
offering, along with his former companions, Spangberg and 
Chirikov, to take the command of the maritime expedition 
which was to start from Kamchatka to solve the questions 
proposed, both eastwards to ascertain the position of the east 
coast of Asia in relation to the west coast of America, and 
southwards to connect the areas which the West-Europeans and 
the Russians were exploring. 

The Russian senate, the Board of Admiralty, and the Academy 
of Sciences were commissioned to develop this plan and to carry 
it into execution. With respect to the way in which the com- 



XIII.] THE GEEAT NORTHERN EXPEDITION. 537 

mission was executed I may be allowed to refer to Miiller's oft- 
quoted work, and to a paper by Von Baer : Peters des Grossen 
Verdienste %tm die Erweiterung der geographischen Kenntnisse 
{Beitrage zur Ken7itniss des Bussischen Beiches, B. 16, St. Peters- 
burg, 1872). Here I can only mention that it was principally 
through the untiring interest which KiRiLOV, the secretary of 
the senate, took in the undertaking, that it attained such a 
development that it may be said to have been perhaps the 
greatest scientific expedition whicb has ever been sent out by 
any country. It was determined at the same time not only to 
ascertain the extent of Siberia to the north and east, but also to 
examine its hitherto almost unknown ethnographical and natural 
conditions. For this purpose the Great Northern Expedition was 
divided into the following divisions : — 

1. An expedition to start from Archangel for the Oh} — For this 
expedition two kotsches were employed, the Ob and the Expedition, 
52| feet long, 14 feet broad, and 8 feet deep, each manned with 
20 men. The vessels, which were under the command of 
Lieutenants Paulov and Muravjev, left Archangel on the ^-^th 
July, 1734. The first summer they only reached Mutnoi Saliv 
in the Kara Sea, whence they returned to the Petchora and 
wintered at Pustosersk. The following year they broke up in 
June, but did not penetrate farther than in 1734. The unfavour- 
able issue was ascribed to the vessels' unserviceableness for 
voyages in the Polar Sea, in consequence of which the Board 
of Admiralty ordered two other boats, 50 to 60 feet long, to be 
built for the expedition, which were placed under the command 
of Skuratov and Scjchotin, Muravjev being besides replaced 
by Malygin who sailed with the old vessels on the "V^ 1736, 

•J 27th May, ' 

down the Petchora river, at whose mouth the Expedition was 
wrecked. Without permitting himself to be frightened by this, 
Malygin ordered his men to go on board the other vessel, in 
which with great dangers and difficulties they penetrated through 
the drift-ice to Dolgoj Island. Here on the ^|th August they 
fell in with the new vessels sent from Archangel. Suchotin was 
now sent back to Archangel on board the Oh ; Malygin and 
Skuratov sailed in the new vessels to the Kara river and 
wintered there. During the winter 1786-1737 the men suffered 
only slightly from scurvy, which was cured by anti-scorbutic 

1 This expedition was under the command of the Admiralty ; the others 
under that of Behring. In my account I have followed partly Miiller and 
partly Wrangel, of whom the latter, in his book of travels, gives a his- 
torical review of previous voyages along the coasts of the Asiatic Poiar 
Sea. The accounts of the voyages between the White Sea and tile Yenisej 
properly belong to a foregoing chapter in this work, but I quote them first 
here in order that I may treat of the different divisions of the Great 
Northern Expedition in the same connection. 



538 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

plants growing in the region. The ice in the Kara river did not 
break up until the ~ June, but so much ice still drifted about 
in the sea that a start could not be made until the ~ July. 
On the 2^4 twX the vessels anchored in the sound which I have 
named Malygin Sound. Here they were detained by head 
winds 25 days. Then they sailed on round a cajDe, which the 
Samoyeds call Yalmal, up the Gulf of Ob to the mouth of the 
river, which was reached on the ^^ September, 1737, and then 
up the river to Soswa, where the vessels were laid up in winter 
quarters. The crews were taken to Beresov. Malygin returned 
to Petersburg, after having given Lieut. Skuratov and the second 
mate Golovin a commission to carry the vessels back to the 
Dwina the following year. They did not get back until August 
1789. The return voyage thus also occupied two years, and was 
attended with much difficulty and danger. 

Six years in all had thus gone to the voyage from Archangel 
to the Ob and back, which now can be accomplished without 
difficulty in a single summer. By means of Maly gin's and 
Skuratov's voyages, and of a land journey which the land- 
measurer Selifontov undertook during July and August 173G 
with reindeer along the west coast of Yalmal and then by boat 
to Beli Ostrov, Yalmal and the south coast of this large island 
were mapped, it would appear in the main coi'rectly.^ 

2. An expedition to sail from the Oh to the YeniseJ. — For 
this Behring ordered a double sloop, the Tohol, 70 feet long, 15 
feet broad, and 8 feet deep, to be built at Tobolsk. The vessel 
had two masts, was armed with two small cannon, and was 
manned with 53 men, among whom were a land-measurer and a 
priest. The commander was Lieut. OwzYN. They sailed in 
company with some small craft carrying provisions from Tobolsk 
on the yfth May, 1734, and came to the Gulf of Ob through the 
easternmost mouth-arm of the river on the ff th June. There a 
storm damaged the tender-vessels. Of the timber. of those 
which had sustained most damage, a storehouse was erected in 
06° 36' N.L., in which the provisions landed from the unservice- 
able craft were placed. When this was done they sailed on, but 
slowly in consequence of unfavourable winds ancl shallow water, 
so that it was not until the Vth August that they reached 70° 4' 
N.L. Hence they returned to Obdorsk, arriving there on the 
ytli September. Seven days afterwards the Ob was covered 
with ice. 

The following spring the voyage Avas resumed. On the V'th 
June they came to the depot formed the preceding year. At 
first ice formed an obstacle, but on the 'f^l July it broke up, and 
the navigable water became clear. The crew had now begun to 

1 Wraiigel, i. p. 36. 



XI u.] OWZYN'S VOYAGES ON THE OB. 539 

suffer so severely from scurvy, tliat of 53 only 17 were in good 
health; Owzyn therefore turned, that he might bring his sick 
men to Tobolsk. He reached this town on the y th October, and 
the river froze over soon after, Owzyn now travelled to St. 
Petersburg in order to give in, in person, reports of his unsuc- 
cessful voyages and to make suggestions as to the measures 
that ought to be taken to ensure better success to next year's 
undertaking. His proposals on this point were mainly in the 
direction of building at Tobolsk a new vessel, which should 
accompany the Tobol during the dangerous voyage, and confer 
upon it greater safety. This was approved by the Board of 
Admiralty, but the vessel could not be got ready till the summer 
of 1736, on which account that year's voyage was undertaken in 
the same way as that of the preceding year, and with the same 
success. The new vessel was not ready until 1737. It came 
with the shipbuilder Koschelev and the mate Minin on the 
Vth June to Obdorsk, where Owzyn took command of it, handing 
over the old one to Koschelev, and beginning his fourth voyage 
down the Gulf of Ob. This time he had better success. After 
sailing past Gyda Bay, he came, without meeting with any 
serious obstacles from ice, on the f^-th August to Cape Mattesol, 
and on the '^ September to a storehouse erected for the expe- 
dition by the care of the authorities on the bank of the Yenisej 
in 71° 33' N.L. The Yenisej froze over on the -^ October. 

Four years had thus gone to the accomplishment of Owzyn' s 
purpose, but it can scarcely be doubted that if he had not turned 
so early in the season, and if he had had steam, or a sailing 
vessel of the present day at his dis]3osal he would have been able 
to sail from the Ob to the Yenisej in a few weeks. It is at all 
events Owzyn's perseverance to which we are in great measure 
indebted for the mapping of the Gulf of Ob, and the Bays of Tas 
and Gyda.-^ 

3. Voyages from the Yenisej towards Ga'pe Taimur. — In the 
winter of 1738 Owzyn and Koschelev were called to St. Peters- 
burg to answer for themselves with reference to a complaint 
lodged against them by the men under their command.^ In 

1 VVrangel, i. p. 38. 

'^ According to P. von Haven {Nye og forhedrede Efterretningar om det 
Russishe Rige, Kjobenliavn, 1747, ii. p. 20), " it was the custom in Peters- 
burg to send away those whose presence was inconvenient to help Behring 
to make new discoveries." It also went very ill with many of the gallant 
Russian Polar travellers, and many of them were repaid with ingratitude. 
Behring was received on his return from his tirst voyage, so rich in results, 
with unjustified mistrust. Steller was exposed to continual trouble, was 
long prevented from returning from Siberia, and finally perished during 
his journey home, broken down in body and soul. Prontschischev and 
Lassinius succumbed to hardships and sufferings during their voyages in 
the Polar Sea. Owzyn was degraded, among other things, because he used 



540 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

tlieir room Minin got the command of the expedition which was 
to endeavour to penetrate farther eastwards along the coast of 
the Polar Sea. The two first summers, 1738 and 1739, Minin 
could not get further than to the northernmost simovies on the 
Yenisej. But in 1740 he succeeded, as it appears in pretty open 
water, in reaching on the west coast of the Taimur Peninsula the 
latitude of 75° 15'. Here he turned on the 2^-^^^^;, on account of 
" impenetrable " ice, but mainly in consequence of the late season 
of the year. The preceding winter Minin had sent his mate 
Sterlegov in sledges to examine the coast. On the f f-th April 
he reached 75° 26' N.L., and there erected a stone cairn on a rock 
jutting out into the sea. Many open places appear to have been 
seen in the offing. Minin and his party returned on account of 
snow-blindness, and during the return voyage rested for a time 
at a simovie on the river Pjasina, whose existence there shows 
how far the Russian hunters had extended their journeys.^ 

4. Voyage from the Lena Westward. — On the i°thj"^^' 1735, two 
expeditions started from Yakutsk, each with its double sloop, 
accompanied by a number of boats carrying provisions. One of 
these double sloops was to go in an easterly direction under the 
command of Lieut. Lassinius. I shall give an account of his 
voyage farther on. The other was commanded by Lieut. 
Prontschischev, whose object was to go from the Lena west- 
wards, if possible, to the Yenisej. The voyage down the river 
was successful and pleasant. The river was from four to nine 
fathoms deep, and on its banks, overgrown with birch and pine, 
there were numerous tents and dwelling-houses whose in- 
habitants were engaged in fishing, which gave the neighbour- 
hood of the river a lively and pleasant appearance.^ On the 
^^^ August the explorers came to the mouth of the river, which 
here divides into five arms, of which the easternmost was chosen 
for sailing down to the Polar Sea. Here the two seafarers 
were to part. Prontschischev staid at the river-mouth till 
the fl^h August. He then sailed in 1^ to 2|- fathoms water 
along the shore of the islands which are formed by the mouth- 
arms of the Lena. On the !4^:^- he anchored in the mouth 



to be too intimate at Obdorsk with exiles formerly of distinction. A few 
years before the voyage of the Vega, Chelyuskin's trustworthiness was still 
doubted. All the accounts of discoveries of islands and land in the Polar 
Sea by persons connected with Siberia, have till the most recent times, been 
considered more or less fictitious ; yet they are clearly in the main true. 

1 Wrangel, i. p. 46. 

^ According to Wrangel (i., note at p. 38 and 48), probably after a quota- 
tion from Prontschischev's journal. The Lena must be a splendid river, for 
it has since made the same powerful impression, as on the seamen of the 
Great Northern Expedition, on all others who have traversed its forest- 
crowned river channel. 



xiii.] PEOXTSCHISCHEV'S VOYAGE, 541 

of the Olenek. A little way up the river some dwelling- 
houses were met with, which hunters had built for use during 
summer. These were put in order for winter, which passed 
happily. On the l^^^-^ the ice broke up at the winter quar- 
ters, but in the sea it lay still until the ^^ August, and it 
was only then that Prontschischev could go to sea. The course- 
was shaped for the north-east. The Chatanga was reached on 
the f |th August. On the beach, in 74° 48' N. L., a hut was 
met with in which were found newly baked bread and some 
dogs, and which therefore appeared to belong to some Russian 
hunters absent at the time. While sailing on along the coast 
the explorers, after having passed two bays projecting into 
the land, came to an inlet which they erroneously took for 
the mouth of the Taimur river. Among the reasons for 
this supposition is mentioned the immense number of gulls 
which swarmed round the vessel in that region. The bay was 
covered with fast ice, "which probably never breaks up," and 
broad ice-fields stretched out to sea from the coast, on which 
Polar bears were seen. 

On the 2-^ August, in 77° 29' N.L., the vessel was suddenly 
surrounded with so large masses of ice that it could make no 
further progress, and was every instant in danger of being 
nipped. Prontschischev therefore determined to turn, but this 
at first was rendered impossible by a complete calm, a crust of 
ice being formed at the same time in open places between the 
pieces of drift-ice. If the latitude stated is correct, the turning ' 
point lay quite close to the northernmost promontory of Asia. 
With a better vessel, and above all with the help of steam, 
Prontschischev would certainly have rounded it. The unbroken 
ice which he mentioned several times in his narrative, ought 
probably to be interpreted as belts of pretty closely packed 
drift-ice. Many times during my Arctic voyages have t sailed 
through belts of ice which, when observed from a boat some 
hundred yards from their borders, have been reported as 
immense unbroken ice-fields. On the |^^^ a high north wind 
began to blow which drove the vessel, with the surrounding 
ice-fields, towards the south. The voyagers had doubts as to 
their being saved, but the gusts of wind broke up the ice so 
that the vessel got free and could sail to the mouth of the 
Chatanga, which, however, was already frozen over. The ex- 
plorers were therefore compelled to continue their voyage 
towards the Olenek, whose mouth was reached on the fyi^^ji^L 

^ 28th Aug. 

In the neighbourhood of the haven which they intended to 
make, they were driven about by contrary winds and drift-ice 
about six days more, exposed to cold and wet, and worn out by 
exertions and privations of every description. Prontschischev, 
who before had been sick, died of his illness on the ^?ii^ 

' , SOtll Aug. 



542 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEQA. [chap. 

to the great sorrow of his men, by whom he was held in great 
regard. The mate, Chelyuskin, now took the command. On 
the i^ Sept. he succeeded in carrying his vessel into the river 
Olenek. On its bank Prontschischev was buried with all the 
solemnities which circumstances permitted. To Prontschisnev's 
melancholy fate there attaches an interest which is quite unique 
in the history of the Arctic exploratory voyages. He was 
newly married when he started. His young wife accompanied 
him on his journey, took part in his dangers and sufferings, 
survived him only two days, and now rests by his side in the 
grave on the desolate shore of the Polar Sea. 

On the J~^ the Olenek was frozen over and the winter 

28th Sept. 

became very severe for Chelyuskin and his companions. The 
following summer they returned to Yakutsk convinced of the 
impossibility of sailing round the north point of Asia, and as 
Behring was no longer to be found in that town, Chelyuskin 
started for St. Petersburg in order to give an oral account of 
Prontschischev' s voyages. The Board of Admiralty, however, 
did not favour Chelyuskin's views, but considered that another 
attempt ought to be made by land, but if this, too, was un- 
successful, that the coast should be surveyed by land journeys 
Lieut. Chariton Laptev was appointed to carry out this last 
attempt to reach the Yenisej by sea from the Lena. 

Laptev, accompanied by a number of small craft carrying pro- 
visions, left Yakutsk on the ^^°th July, 1739, and on the —^ of the 
same month reached the mouth-arm of the Lena called Kres- 
tovskoj, on which he built, on a point jutting out into the sea, a 
high signal tower, one of the few monuments that are to be 
found on the north coast of Asia, and which is on that account 
mentioned by succeeding travellers in those regions. He sailed 
hence along the coast past the mouth of the Olenek and past a 
large bay to which, for what reason I know not, he gave the 
purely Swedish name of Nordvik. This bay was still covered 
with unbroken ice. After having been beset for several days in 
Chatanga Bay, the voyagers on the ^ August reached Cape 
Thaddeus, where the vessel was anchored the following day in 
76° 47' N. L. A signal tower was built on the extremity of the 
cape, and the land-measurer Chekin was sent to examine the 
neighbouring territory, and Chelyuskin to search for the mouth 
•of the river Taimur. Chekin could carry out no geodetic work 
on account of mist. Chelyuskin again reported that the whole 
bay and the sea in the offing were, as far as the eye could reach, 
covered with unbroken ice. This induced Laptev to turn. After 
many difficulties amonsr the ice, he came, on the ^^"'^ to the 

"^ O ' ' 27th Aug. 

confluence of the river Bludnaya with the Chatanga. Here the 
winter was passed among a tribe of Tunguses living on the spot, 
who owned no reindeer, and were therefore settled. They used 



xui.] LAPTEV'S FIRST VOYAGE. 543 

dogs as draught animals, and appear to have carried on a mode 
of life resembling that of the coast Chukches. 

In spring Chekin was sent to map the coast between the 
Taimur and the Pjasina. With thirty dog-sledges and accompanied 
by a nomad Tunguse with eighteen reindeer/ he travelled over 
land to the Taimur river, followed its course to the sea, and then 
the coast towards the west of a distance of 100 versts. Scarcity 
of provisions and food for his dogs compelled him to turn. 
Laptev himself, convinced as he was of the impossibility of 
rounding the north point of Asia, now wished to carry back his 
vessel and the most of his stores to the Lena. After having with 
great danger and difficulty sailed down the river to the Polar Sea, 
reaching it on the ^^^' the vessel on the rtth was beset and 

o 30th July, 13 

nipped between pieces of ice, according to a statement on a 
Russian map published in 1876 by the Hydrographical Depart- 
ment in St. Petersburg, on the east coast of the Taimur Peninsula 
in 75° 30' N.L. Six days after there was a strong frost, so that 
thin ice was formed between the blocks of drift-ice. Some 
foolhardy fellows went over the weakly frozen together pieces of 
ice to land. Three days after Laptev himself and the rest of the 
men could leave the vessel. Several streams, still unfrozen, lying 
between them and their old winter station, however, prevented 
them from going further. They endeavoured to get protection 
from the cold by digging pits in the frozen earth and lying down 
in them by turns one after the other. The men were sent daily 
to the vessel to fetch as much as possible of the provisions left 
behind, but on the g^^^-^ the ice again broke up, and carried the 
abandoned vessel out to sea. 
■ By the „^^^f °V the streams at last had frozen so much that the 

J 21st Sei>t. 

return journey could be begun to the former year's winter 
station distant more than 500 kilometres. The journey through 
the desolate tundra, perha23s never before trodden by the foot 
of man, was attended with extreme difficulties, and it was 
twenty-five days before Laptev and his men could again rest 
in a warmed hut and get hot food. Twelve men perished 
of cold and exhaustion. Laptev now determined to remain here 
during the winter and to go the following spring over the tundra 
to the Yenisej, where he hoped to find depots with provisions and 
ammunition. Nor did he now remain inactive. For he did not 
wish to return until the surveys were complete. For want of 
vessels these were to be made by land. Such of the men as 

1 These all perished "for want of fodder." This, however, is impro- 
bable. For, in 1878, we saw numerous traces of these animals as far to 
the northward as Cape Chelyuskin, and very fat reindeer were shot both in 
1861 and 187.3, on the Seven Islands, the northernmost of all the islands of 
the Old World, where vegetation is much poorer than in the regions now 
in question. 



544 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

were not required were therefore sent in spring over the tundra 
to the Yenisej and the rest divided into three parties under 
Laptev himself, Chekin, and Chelyuskin, who were to survey 
each his portion of the coast between the Chatanga and the 
Pjasina and then meet at the Yenisej. These journeys were 
successfully accomplished ; the explorers travelled several times 
without, it would appear, excessive difficulty, over the desolate 
tundra between the Chatanga and the Taimur rivers, discovered 
Lake Taimur, and surveyed considerable stretches of the coast. 
But when they were all again assembled at Dudino, it was found 
that the north point of Asia had not yet been travelled round and 
surveyed. This was done in 1742 by Chelyuskin in the 
course of a new sledge journey, of which the particulars 
are only incompletely known, evidently because Chelyuskin's 
statement, that he had reached the northernmost point of 
Asia, was doubted down to the most recent times. After the 
voyage of the Vega, however, there can be no more doubt on 
this point.'^ 

5. Voyages from the Lena Eastward. — During these Lieutenant 
Lassinius and after his death Lieutenant Dmitri Laptev had the 
command. A double sloop was built at Yakutsk for the voyage 
of Lassinius. As I have already mentioned, he left this town, 
accompanied by several cargo-boats, at the same time as Pron- 
tschischev, and both sailed together down the Lena to its mouth. 
Lassinius was able to sail to the eastward as early as the rfth 
August. Four days after he came upon so much drift-ice that 
he was compelled to lie to at the mouth of the river, 120 versts 
to the east of the easternmost mouth-arm of the Lena. Here 
abundance of driftwood was met with, and the stock of pro- 
visions appears also to have been large, but notwithstanding this, 
scurvy broke out during the winter. Lassinius himself and most 
of his men died. On being informed of this, Behring sent a 
relieving party, consisting of Lieutenant Cherbinin and fourteen 
men to Lassinius' winter quarters. On their arrival on the y^th 
June they found only the priest, the mate, and seven sailors 
alive of the fifty-three men who had started with Lassinius the 
foregoing year from Yakutsk. These too were so ill that some 
of them died during the return journey to Yakutsk. Dmitri 
Laptev and a sufficient number of men, were sent at the same 
time to take possession of the ship and renew the attempt to sail 

1 Wrangel, i. pp. 48 and 72. Of the journey round the northernmost 
point of Asia, Wrangel says : — "Von der Tajmur-Miindung bis an das Kap 
des heiligen Faddej konnte die Kiiste nicht beschifft werden, und die 
Aufnahme, die der Steuerniann Tschemokssin (Cheljaiskin) auf dem Eise 
in Narten vornahm, ist so oberflachlich und unbestiramt, dass die eigent- 
liche Lage des nordostlichen oder Tajmur-Kaps, welches die nordlichste 
Spitse Asians ausmacht, noch gar nicht ausgemittelt ist." 



.xiii.J DMITRI LAPTEV'S SECOND VOYAGE. 545 

eastwards. He went to sea on the i^^^' At first he had to 

30th July. 

contend with serious obstacles from ice, and when at last he 
reached open water he thought himself compelled to turn on 
account of the advanced season of the year. On the ^"'^f^'' he 

•J 22nd Aug. 

came again to the Bychov mouth-arm of the Lena, up which he 
found it difficult to make his way on account of the many 
unknown shoals. On the y th September the river was frozen 
over. He wintered a little distance from the mouth ; and now 
again scurvy made its appearance, but was cured by constant 
exercise in the open air and by a decoction of cedar cones. In 
a report sent from this place, Dmitri Laptev declared that it was 
quite impossible to round the two projecting promontories 
between the Lena and the Indigirka, Capes Borchaja and 
Svjatoinos, because, according to the unanimous statement of 
several Yakuts living in the region, the ice there never melts or 
even loosens from the beach. With Behring's permission he 
travelled to St. Petersburg to lay the necessary information 
before the Board of Admiralty. The Board determined that 
another attempt should be made by sea, and, if that was 
unsuccessful, that the coast should be surveyed by means of 
land journeys. 

It is now easy to see what was the cause of the unfortunate 
issue of these two attempts to sail to the eastward. The explorers 
had vessels which were unsuitable for cruising, they turned too 
early in the season, and in consequence of their unwillingness to 
go far from land they sailed into the great bays east of the Lena, 
from which no large river carries away the masses of ice that 
have been formed there during the winter, or that have been 
drifted thither from the sea. Dmitri Laptev and his companions 
besides appear to have had a certain dislike to the commission 
intrusted to them, and, differing from Deschnev, they thus 
Avanted the first condition of success — the fixed conviction of 
the possibility of attaining their object. 

By order of the Board of Admiralty Dmitri Laptev at all 
events began his second voyage, and now falsified his own 
prediction, by rounding the two capes which he believed to be 
always surrounded by unbroken ice. After he had passed them 
his vessel was frozen in on the %°t^ September. Laptev had no 
idea at what point of the coast he was, or how far he was from 
land. He remained in this unpleasant state for eleven days, at 
the close of which one of the mates who had been sent out from 
the vessel in a boat on the HHi^^- returned on foot over the ice 

aistAug. 

and reported that they were not far from the mouth of the 
Indigirka. Several Yakuts had settled on the neighbouring 
coast, where was also a Russian simovie. Laptev and his men 
wintered there, and examined the surrounding country. The 
surveyor Kindakov was sent out to map the coast to the Kolyma. 



546 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Among other things he observed that the sea here was very- 
shallow near the shore, and that driftwood was wanting at the 
mouth of the Indigirka, but was found in large masses in the 
interior, 30 versts from the coast. 

The following year, 1740, Laptev repaired as well as he could 
his vessel, which had been injured during the voyage of the 
preceding year, and then went again to sea on the i"^^-^"^- On 
the ^^ August- he passed one of the Bear Islands, fixing its 
latitude at 71° 0'. On the ^T^h August, when Great Cape 
Baranov was reached, the progress of the vessel was arrested by 
masses of ice that extended as far as the eye could reach. 
Laptev now turned and sought for winter quarters on the 
Kolyma. On the yth July, 1741, this river became open, and 
Laptev went to sea to continue his voyage eastwards, but did 
not now succeed in rounding Great Cape Baranov. He was now 
fully convinced of the impossibility of reaching the Anadyr by 
sea, on which account he determined to penetrate to that river 
by land in order to survey it. This he did in the years 1741 
and 1742. Thus ended the voyages of Dmitri Laptev, giving evi- 
dence if not of distinguished seamanship, of great perseverance, 
undaunted resolution, and fidelity to the trust committed to 
him.-^ 

, 6. Voyage for the purpose of exploring and surveying the coast 
of America. — For this purpose Behring fitted out at Okotsk two 
vessels, of which he himself took the command of one, St. Paul, 
while the other, St. Peter, was placed under Chirikov. They 
left Okotsk in 1740, and being prevented by shoal water from 
entering Bolschaja Reka, they both wintered in Avatscha Bay, 
whose excellent haven was called, from the names of the ships. 
Port Peter-Paul. On the ^^Hh June they left this haven, the 
naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller having first gone on board 
Behring's and the astronomer Louis DE L'IsLE DE LA Croyere 
Chirikov's vessel. The course was shaped at first for the S.S.E., 
but afterwards, when no land could be discovered in this 
direction, for the N.E. and E. During a storm on the 2^\.^ the 

' ^ 20th June 

vessels were separated. On the f |th July Behring reached the 
coast of America in 58° to 59° N.L. A short distance from the 
shore Steller discovered here a splendid volcano, which was 
named St. Elias. The coast was inhabited, but the inhabitants 

1 Wrangel, i. p. 62. I have sketched the voyages between the White Sea 
and the Kolyma, principally after Engelhardt's German translation of Wran- 
gel's Travel's. It is, unfortunately, in many respects defective and confused, 
especially with respect to the sketch of Chariton Laptev and his followers, 
sledge journeys, undertaken in order to survey the coast between the 
Chatanga and the Pjiisina. M-iiller mentions these journej's only in passing. 
Wrangel gives as sources for his sketch (i. note at p. 38) Memoirs of the 
Russian Admiralty, also the original journals of the journeys. Chelyuskin 
he calls Chemokssin. 



xui.] DEATH OF BEHRING. 547 

fled when the vessel approached. From this jDoint Behring 
wished to sail in a north-westerly direction to that promontory 
of Asia which formed the turning-point of his first voyage. It 
was however only with difficulty that in the almost constant fog 
the peninsula of Alaska could be rounded and the vessel could 
sail forward among the Aleutian island groups. Scurvy now 
broke oul among the crew, and the commander himself suffered 
severely from it, on which account the command was mainly in 
the hands of Lieut, Waxel. At an island the explorers came 
into contact with the natives, who at first were quite friendly, 
until one of them was offered brandy. He tasted the liquor, and 
was thereby so terrified that no gifts could calm his uneasiness. 
On this account those of the crew who were on land were 
ordered to come on board, but the savages wished to detain 
their guests. At last the Russians were set free, but a Koryak 
whom they had taken with them as an interpreter was kept 
behind. In order to get him set at liberty, Waxel ordered two 
musket salvos to be fired over the heads of the natives, with the 
result that they all fell flat down from fright, and the Koryak 
had an opportunity of making his escape. Now the fire-water 
is a liquor in great request among these savages, and they are 
not frightened at the firing of salvos of musketry. 

During the following months Behring's vessel drifted about 
without any distinct plan, in the sea between Alaska and Kam- 
chatka, in nearly constant fog, and in danger of stranding on 
some of the many unknown rocks and islands which were passed. 
On the 5th November the vessel was anchored at an island 
afterwards called Behring Island. Soon however a great wave 
arose which threw the vessel on land and crushed it against the 
rocky coast of the island. Of the wintering there, which, through 
Steller's taking part in it, became of so great importance for 
natural history, I shall give an account further on in connection 
with the narrative of our visit to Behring Island. Here I shall 
only remind the reader that Behring died of scurvy on the y th 
December, and that in the course of the voyage great part of his 
crew fell a sacrifice to the same disease. In spring the survivors 
built a new vessel out of the fragments of the old, and on the 
f |-th of August they sailed away from the island Avhere they had 
undergone so many sufferings, and came eleven daj^s after to a 
haven on Kamchatka. 

After parting from Behring, Chirikov on the ffth July sighted 
the coast of America in 56° N.L. The mate Abraham Demen- 
TIEV was then sent ashore in the longboat, which was armed with 
a cannon and manned by ten well-armed men. When he did not 
return, another boat was sent after him. But this boat too did 
not come back. Probably the boats' crews were taken prisoners 
and killed by the Indians. After making another attempt to 

N N 2 



548 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. 

find Lis lost men, Chirikov determined to return to Kamchatka. 
He first sailed some distance northwards along the coast of 
America without being able to land, as both the vessel's boats 
were lost. Great scarcity of drinking-water was thus occasioned, 
which was felt the more severely as the return voyage was very 
protracted on account of head-winds and fog. During the voyage 
twenty-one men jDerished, among them de I'lsle de la Croyere, 
who died, as is said often to be the case with scurvy patients on 
board ship, while he was being carried from his bed uj) on deck 
to be put on land.^ 

The voyages of Behring and Chirikov, attended as they were by 
the sacrifice of so many human lives, gave us a knowledge of the 
position of North-western America in relation to that of North- 
eastern Asia, and led to the discovery of the long volcanic chain 
of islands between the Alaska peninsula and Kamchatka. 

7. Voyarjfs to Japan. — For these Captain Spangberg ordered 
a huchcr, the Erhecngeln Michael, and a double sloop, the 
Nadeschda, to be built at Okotsk, the old vessel Gahricl being 
at the same time repaired for the same purpose. Spangberg 
himself took command of the IficJiael, that of the double sloop 
was given to Lieutenant Walton, and of the Gabriel to Midship- 
man Cheltinga. Drift-ice prevented a start until midsummer, 
and on that account nothing more could be done the first year 
(l7o8) than to examine the Kurile Islands to the 46tli degree 
of latitude. From this point the vessels returned to Kamchatka, 
where they wintered at Bolschaja Reka. On the .l^|^; 1739, 
Spangberg with his little fleet again left this haven. All the 
vessels kept together at first, until in a violent storm attended 
with fog Spangberg and Cheltinga were parted from Walton. 
Both made a successful voyage to Japan and landed at several 
places, being always well received by the natives, who appeared 
to be very willing to have dealings with the foreigners. During 
the return voyage Spangberg landed in 43° 50' N.L. on a large 
island north of Nippon. Here he saw the Aino race, enigmatical 
as to its origin, distinguished by an exceedingly abundant growth 
of hair and beard which sometimes extends over the greater part 
of the body. Spangberg returned to Okotsk on the ".'iatifoXi'er' " 
Walton sailed along the coast in a southerly direction to 33° 48' 
N.L. Here was a town with 1,500 houses, where the Russian sea- 
farers were received in a very friendly way even in jmvate houses. 
Walton subsequently landed at two other places on the coast, 
returning afterwards to Okotsk,where he anchored on the '^*^^p^s^- 2 

o > 31st August. 

The very splendid results of Spangberg's and Walton's voyages 

In this account of Behring's and Chirikov' s voyages, I have followed 
Miiller (iii. pp. 187-2G8). More complete original accounts of Behring's 
voyage are quoted further on in the sketch of our visit to Behring Island. 
'^ Miiiler, iii. p. 1G4. 



xiii:] SPANGBEEG'S VOYAGE TO JAPAN. 549 

by no means corresponded Avith the maps of Asia constructed 
by the men who were at that time leaders of the Petersburg 
Academy, Spangberg therefore during his return journey through 
Siberia got orders to travel again to the same regions in order 
to settle the doubts that had arisen. A new vessel had to 
be built, and with this he started in 1741 from Okotsk to 
his former winter haven in Kamchatka, Hence he sailed in 
1742 in a southerly direction, but he had scarcely passed the 
first of the Kurile Islands when the vessel became so leaky 
that he was compelled to turn. The second expedition of 
Spangberg to Japan was thus completely without result, a 
circumstance evidently brought about by the unjustified and 
offensive doubts which led to it, and the arbitrary way in 
which it was arranged at St, Petersburg. 

8. Journeys in the inUrior of Siberia by Gmelin, Milller, 
Steller, Krascheninnikov, de I'lsle de la Croyere, &c. — The 
voyages of these savants have indeed formed an epoch in our 
knowledge of the ethnography and natural history of North Asia, 
but the north coast itself they did not touch. An account of 
them therefore lies beyond the limits of the history which I 
have undertaken to relate here. 

The Great Northern Expedition by these journeys both by 
sea and land had gained a knowledge of the natural conditions 
of North Asia based on actual researches, had yielded pretty 
complete information regarding the boundary of that quarter 
of the globe towards the north, and of the relative position 
of the east coast of Asia and the west coast of America, had 
discovered the Aleutian Islands, and had connected the Russian 
discoveries in the east with those of the West-Europeans in 
Japan and China.^ The results were thus very grand and 
epoch-making. But these undertakings had also required very 
considerable sacrifices, and long before they were finished they 
were looked upon in no favourable light by the Siberian 
authorities, on account of the heavy burden which the transport 
of provisions and other equipment through desolate regions 
imposed upon the country. Nearly twenty years now elapsed 
before there was a new exploratory expedition in the Siberian 
Polar Sea worthy of being registered in the history of geography 
This time it was a private person, a Yakutsk merchant, 
ScHALAUROV, who proposed to repeat Deschnev's famous voyage 
and to gain this end sacrificed the whole of his means and 

■^ It deserves to be noted as a literary curiosity t])at the famous French 
savant and geographer, Vivien de Saint Martin, in his work, Ilistoire de la 
Georjraphie et cles Decouvertc.H geograj'Jiiques, Paris, 1873, does not say a single 
word regarding all those expeditions which form an epoch in our knowledge 
of the Old World. 



650 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

his life itself. Accompanied by an exiled midshipman, Ivan 
Backoff, and with a crew of deserters and deported men, he 
sailed in 1760 from the Lena out into the Polar Sea, but 
came the first year only to the Yana, where he wintered. 
On the ^^^j^l; 1761, he continued his voyage towards the east, 
always keeping near the coast. On the yth September he 
rounded the dreaded Svjatoinos, sighting on the other side of 
the sound a high-lying land, Ljachoff's Island. At the Bear 
Islands, whither he was carried by a favourable wind over an 
open sea, he first met with drift-ice, although, it appears, not 
in any considerable quantity. But the season was already far 
advanced, and he therefore considered it most advisable to 
seek winter quarters at the mouth of the neighbouring Kolyma 
river. Here he built a spacious winter dwelling, which was 
surrounded by snow ramparts armed with cannon from the 
vessel; probably the whole house was not so large as a peasant's 
cabin at home, but it was at all events the grandest palace 
on the north coast of Asia, often spoken of by later travellers, 
and regarded by the natives with amazed admiration. In the 
neighbourhood there was good reindeer hunting and abundant 
fishing, on which account the winter passed so happily, that 
only one man died of scurvy, an exceedingly favourable state 
of things for that j)eriod. 

The following year Schalaurov started on the ^-l-rr-T^-' but 

O J 21st July, 

calms and constant head-winds prevented him from passing 
Cape Schelagskoj, until he was compelled by the late season 
of the year to seek for winter quarters. For this he considered 
the neighbouring coast unsuitable on account of the scarcity 
of forests and driftwood ; he therefore sailed back to the west- 
ward until after a great many mishaps he came again at last 
on the j^ll September to the house which he had built the 
year before on the Kolyma. 

He proposed immediately to make a renewed attempt the 
following spring , to reach his goal. But now his stores were 
exhausted, and the wearied crew refused to accompany him. 
In order to obtain funds for a new voyage he. travelled to 
Moscow, and by means of the assistance he succeeded in 
procuring there, he commenced in 1766 a voyage from which 
neither he nor any of his folloAvers returned. CoxE mentions 
several things which tell in favour of his having actually rounded 
Cape Deschnev and reached the Anadyr. But Wrangel believes 
that he perished in the neighbourhood of Cape Schelagskoj. 
For in 1823 the inhabitants of that cape showed Wrangel' s 
companion Matiuschkin a little ruinous house, built east of the 
river Werkon on the coast of the Polar Sea. For many years 
back the Chukches travelling past had found there human bones 
gnawed by beasts of prey, and various household articles, which 



xin.] ANDKEJEV. 551 

indicated that shipwrecked men had wintered there, and Wrangel 
accordingly supposes that it was there that Schalaurov perished 
a sacrifice to the determination with which he prosecuted his 
self-imposed task of sailing round the north-eastern promontory 
of Asia.i 



In order to ascertain whether any truth lay at tlie bottom 
of the view, generally adopted in Siberia, that the continent of 
America extended along the north coast of Asia to the neisfh- 
bourhood of the islands situated there, Chicherin, Governor of 
Siberia, in the winter of 1763 sent a sergeant, Andrejev with 
dog-sledges on an ice journey towards the north. He succeeded 
in reaching some islands of considerable extent, which Wrangel, 
who always shows himself very sceptical with respect to the 
existence of new lands and islands in the Polar Sea, considers to 
have been the Bear Islands. Now it appears to be pretty certain 
that Andrejev visited a south-westerly continuation of the land 
named on recent maps " Wrangel Land," which in that case, like 
the corresj)onding part of America, forms a collection of many 
large and small islands, Andrejev found everywhere numerous 
proofs that the islands which he visited had been formerly 
inhabited. Among other things he saw a large hut built of 
wood without the help of iron tools. The logs were as it were 
gnawed with teeth (hewed with stone axes), and bound together 
with thongs.^ Its position and construction indicated that the 
house had been built for defence ; it had thus been found im- 
possible in the desolate regions of the Polar Sea to avoid the 
discord and the strife which prevail in more southerly lands. 
To the east and north-east Andrejev thought he saw a distant 
land ; he is also clearly the true European discoverer of Wrangel 
Land, provided we do not consider that even he had a pre- 
decessor in the Cossack, Feodor Tatarinov, who according to 
the concluding words of Andrejev' s journal appears to have 
previously visited the same islands. It is highly desirable that • 
this journal, if still in existence, be published in a completely 
unaltered form.: How important this is appears from the fol- 
lowing paragraph in the instructions given to Billings : — " One 
Sergeant Andrejev saw from the last of the Bear Islands a large 
island to which they (Andrejev and his companions) travelled in 
dog-sledges. But they turned when they had gone twenty 
versts from the coast, because they saw fresh traces of a large 



^ An account of Sclialaurov is given by Coxc {Russian Discoveries, &c., 
1780, p. 32.3) and Wrangel (i. p. 73). That the hut seen by Matiuschkin 
actually belonged to Schalaurov ajipears to me highly improbable, for 
the traditions of the Siberian savages seldom extend sixty years back. 

^ Wrangel, i. p. 79. 



,552 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

number of men, who had travelled in sledges drawn by rein- 
deer." ^ 

In order to visit the large land in the north-east seen by 
Andrejev, there was sent out in the years 1769, 1770, and 1771 
another expedition, consisting of the three surveyors, Leontiev, 
Lussov, and Puschkaeev, with dog-sledges over the ice to the 
north-east, but they succeeded neither in reuching the land in 
question, nor even ascertaining with certainty whether it actually 
existed or not. Among the natives, .however, the belief in it 
was maintained very persistently, and they even knew how to- 
give names to the tribes inhabiting it. 

The New Siberian Islands, which previously had often been 
jseen by travellers along the coast, Avere visited the first time in 
1770 by Ljachoff, who besides Ljachoff's island lying nearest 
the coast, also discovered the islands Maloj and Kotelnoj. On 
this account he obtained an exclusive right to collect mammoth 
tusks there, a branch of industry which since that time appears 
to have been carried on in these remote regions with no in- 
considerable profit. The imi3ortance of the discovery led the 
government some years after to send thither a land surveyor, 
Chvoinov,^ by whom the islands were surveyed, and some 
further information obtained resfardinof the remarkable natural 
conditions in that region. According to Ghvoinov the ground 
there consists at many places of a mixture of ice and sand 
with mammoth tusks, bones of a fossil species of ox, of the 
rhinoceros, &c. At many places one can literally roll off the 
carpet-like bed of moss from the ground, when it is found that 
the close, green vegetable covering has clear ice underlying 
it, a circumstance which I have also observed at several places 
in the Polar regions. The new islands were rich not only in 
ivory, but also in foxes with valuable skins, and other spoils of 
the chase of various kinds. They therefore formed for a time 
the goal of various hunters' expeditions. Among these hunters 
may be named Sannikov, who in 1805 discovered the islands 
Stolbovoj and Faddejev, SiEOVATSKOJ, A^dlo in 1806 discovered 
Novaya Sibir, and Bjelkov, who in 1808 discovered the small 
islands named after him. In the meantime disputes arose about 
the hunting monopoly, especially after Bjelkov and others 
petitioned for permission to establish on Kotelnoj Island a 
Imnting and trading station. (?) ^ This induced EoMANZOV, then 
Chancellor of Russia, to order once more these distant territories 
to be explored by Hedenstrom,* a Siberian exile, who had 

^ Sauer, An Account, &c., Appendix, p. 48. 

^ Sauer, loc. cit. p. 103, according to an oral communication by Ljachoff's 
follower Protodiakonov. 

^ Compare Wrangel, i. p. 98. 

* Matthias Hedenstrom, Aulic Councillor, whose name indicates that he 
was of Swedish birth, died at the village Hajdukovo, seven versts from 



xiir.] IIEDBNSTEOM'S EXPEDITIONS. 553 

formerly been secretary to some eminent man in St. Petersburg. 
He started in dog-sledges on the "tli March, 1809, from Ustjansk 
going over the ice to Ljachoff's Island, and thence to Faddejev 
Island, where the expedition was divided into two parts. 
Hedenstrom continued his course to Novaya Sibir, the south 
coast of which he surveyed. Here he discovered among other 
things the remarkable " tree mountain," which I have before 
mentioned. His companions Koschevin and Sannikov ex- 
plored Faddejev, Maloj and Ljachoff's Islands. On Faddejev, 
Sannikov found a Yukagir sledge, stone skin-scrapers, and an 
axe made of mammoth ivory, whence he drew the conclusion 
that the island was inhabited before the Russians introduced 
iron among the savage tribes of Siberia. 

The explorations thus commenced were continued in 1810. 
The explorers started on the ^^ March from the mouth of the 
Indigirka, and after eleven days' journey came to Novaya Sibir. 
It had been Hedenstrom's original intention to employ reindeer 
and horses in exploring the islands, but he afterwards abandoned 
this plan, fearing that he would not find pasture for his draught 
animals. Both Hedenstrom and Sannikov believed that they 
saw from the north coast of the island bluish mountains on the 
horizon in the north-east. In order to reach this new land the 
former undertook a journey over the ice. It was so uneven, 
however, that in four days he could only penetrate about seventy 
versts. Here on the ^^j^^^^'^i^ he met with quite open water, 
which appeared to extend to the Bear Islands, i.e, for a distance 
of about 500 versts. He therefore turned southward, and 
reached the mainland after forty-three days' very difficult 
travelling over the ice. During the journey Hedenstrom was 
saved from famine by his success in killing eleven Polar bears. 
A new attempt, which he made the same spring to reach with 
dog-sledges the unknown land in the north-east, was also without 
result in consequence of his meeting with broad, impassable 
" leads " and openings in the ice, but even on this occasion he 
believed that he found many indications of the existence of 
an extensive land in the direction named. It was only with 
great difficulty that on the '^th May he succeeded in reach- 
ing the mainland at Cape Baranov over very weak ice. 

Tlie same year Sannikov explored Kotelnoj Island, where he 
fell in with Bjelkov and several hunters, who had settled for the 
summer on the west coast of the island to collect mammoth tusks 
and hunt foxes there. He found also a Greek cross erected on 

Tomsk, oil the 2nd October (20th September), 1845, at the age of sixty-five. 
Biographical notes regarding Hedenstrom are to be found in the Calendar 
for the Irkutsh government for the year 1865, pp. 57-60 ; I have not, 
liowever, succeeded in procuring tliis work^ or in lindiag any other notices 
of Hedenstrom's birthjjlace and life. 



654 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[ciiAr. 



the beach and the remains of a vessel, which, to judge from its 
construction and the hunting implements scattered about in the 
neighbourhood, appeai-ed to have belonged to an Archangel 
hunter, who had been driven by wind or ice from Spitzbergen 
or Novaya Zemlya. 

Next summer "the Hedenstrom expeditions" were concluded 
with the survey of the north coast of Novaya Sibir by Chenizyn, 
and by a repetition of the attempt to penetrate from Cape 
Kamennoj over the ice in a north-easterly direction, this time 




PETER FKODOnOVVTSCn ANJOU. 

Bovu in iros in Russia, ditxl in 1S69 in St. Pet.orsburi: 



carried out by the Cossack Tatarinov, and finally by a renewed 
exploration of Faddejev Island by Saimikov. Tatarinov found 
the ice, probably in the end of March, so thin, that he did not 
dare to proceed farther, and beyond the thin ice the sea was seen 
to be quite open. Sanuikov first explored Faddejev Island. He 
thought he saw from the hills of the island a high land in the 
north-oast, but Avhen he attempted to reach it over the ice, he 
came upon open water twenty-five versts from land. He there- 
fore returned the same spring to Ustjansk in order there to 



XIII. J 



SANNIKOV'S BXPLOEATIONS. 



555 



equip a caravan consisting of twenty-three reindeer, which 
started on the ]^^ May to go over the ice to Kotelnoj Island, 
which could be reached only with great difficulty in consequence 
of " leads " in the ice and the large quantity of salt water which 
had accumulated upon it. The reindeer were exceedingly 
enfeebled, but recovered rapidly on reaching land, so that 
Sannikov was able under specially favourable circumstances to 
make a large number of interesting excursions, among others one 



^^^^ 




FERDINAND VON WRANGEL. 

Boni in 1796 at Pskov, died in 1870 at Dorpat. 



across the island. He stated that on the heights in the interior 
of it there were found skulls and bones of horses, oxen, 
" buffaloes " (Ovibos ?) and sheep in so large numbers, that 
it was evident that whole herds of graminivora had lived there 
in former times. Mammoth bones were also found everywhere 
on the island, whence Sannikov drew the conclusions, that all 
these animals had lived at the same time, and that since then the 
climate had considerably deteriorated. These suj)positions he 



555 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

considered to be further confirmed by the fact that large, 
partially petrified tree-stems were found scattered about on the 
island in still greater numbers than on Novaya Sibir.^ Besides 
he found here everywhere remains of old " Yukagir dwellings " ; 
the island had thus once been inhabited. After Sannikov had 
fetched Chenitzyn from Faddejev Island, where he had passed 
the summer in great want of provisions, and 'ordered him, who 
was probably a greater adept at the pen, to draw up a report of 
his own interesting researches, he commenced his return journey 
on the |*^r^' and arrived at TJstiansk on the ,^th November. 

27th Oct., o 12 

It may be said that through Hedenstrom's and Sannikov' s 
exceedingly remarkable Polar journeys, the titles have been 
written of many important chapters in the history of the 
former and recent condition of our globe. But the inquirer 
has hitherto waited in vain for these chapters being completed 
through new researches carried out with improved appliances. 
For since then the New Siberian Islands have not been visited 
by any scientific expedition. Only in 1823 Anjou, lieutenant 
in the Russian Navy, with the surgeon Fjgurin, and the mate 
Ilgin, made a new attempt to penetrate over the ice to the 
supposed lands in the north and north-east, but without success. 
Similar attempts were made at the same time from the Siberian 
mainland by another Russian naval officer, Ferdinand von 
Weangel, accompanied by Dr. Kubee, midshipman Matiuschkin, 
and mate KosMiN. They too were unsuccessful in penetrating 
(3ver the ice far from the coast. Wrangel returned fully convinced 
that all the accounts which were current in Siberia of the land 
he wished to visit, and which now bears the name of Wrangel 
Land, were based on legends, mistake, and intentional untruths. 
But Anjou and Wrangel did an important service to Polar 
research by showing that the sea, even in the neighbourhood of 
the Pole of cold, is not covered with any strong and continuous 
sheet of ice, even at that season of the year when cold reaches 
its maximum. By the attempts made nearly at the same time 
by Wrangel and Parry to penetrate farther northwards, the one 
from the north coasts of Siberia, and the other from those of 
Spitzbergen, Polar travellers for the first time got a correct idea 
how uneven and impassable ice is on a frozen sea, how little the 

1 A very remarkable geological fact is the number of tree-stems in all 
stages of decay and petrifaction, which are embedded in the rocks and 
earthy strata of Siberia, having their origin all along from the Jurassic 
age till now. It appears as if Siberia, during the whole of this immense 
period of time, has not been subjected to any great changes in a purely 
geographical respect, whereas in Europe there have been innumerable 
alternations of sea and land, and alps have been formed and disappeared. 
The Siberians call the tree-stems found on the tundra far from the sea 
and rivers Adam's wood, to distinguish them from more recent sub-fossil 
trees, Avhich they call Noah's wood. 



xiu.] COOK'S EXPEDITION. 557 

v/ay over svicli a sea resembles the even j)olislied surface of a 
frozen lake, ov-er which we dwellers in the north are accustomed 
to speed along almost with the velocity of the wind. Wrangel's 
narrative at the same time forms an important source of know- 
ledge both of preceding journeys and of the recent natural 
conditions on the north coast of Asia, as is only too evident from 
the frequent occasions on which I have quoted his work in my 
sketch of the voyage of the Vega. 

It remains for me now to enumerate some voyages from 
Behring's Straits westward into the Siberian Polar Sea. 

1778 and 1779. — During the third of his famous circum- 
navigations of the globe James Cook penetrated through 
Behring's Straits into the Polar Sea, and then along the north- 
east coast of Asia westwards to Irkaipij, called by him Cape 
North, Thus the honour of having carried the first seagoing- 
vessel to this sea also belongs to the great navigator. He 
besides confirmed Behring's determination of the position of 
the East Cape of Asia, and himself determined the position 
of the opposite coast of America.^ The same voyage was 
approximately rejDeated the year after Cook's death by his 
successor Chaeles Claeke, but without any new discoveries 
being made in the region in question. 

l7y5-94. — The success which attended Cook in his exploratory 
voyages and the information, unlooked for even by the Russian 
government, which Coxe's work gave concerning the voyages of 
the Prussian hunters in the North Pacific, led to the equipment 
of a grand new expedition, having for its object the further 

1 The first European who visited the part of America lying right opposite 
to Asia was Schestalvov's companion, the surveyor Gvosdev. He crossed 
Behring's Straits to the American side as earlj^ as 1730 {Muller, iii. p. 131), 
and therefore ouglit properly to be considered as the discoverer of tliis 
sound. The north-westernmost part of America, Behring's Straits and the 
islands situated in it, are besides shown in Strahlenberg's map, which was 
made at least a decade before Gvosdev's voyage. There north-western 
America is delineated as a large island, inhabited by a tribe, the Pucho- 
cJwtski, who lived in a constant state of warfare with the Giuchieglii, who 
inhabited the islands in the sound. Wrangel Land is also shown in this 
remarkable map. In 1767, eleven years before Cook's voyage in the Polar 
Sea, the American side of Behring's Straits was also visited by Lieut. Synd 
with a Eussian expedition, that started from Okotsk in 1764. In the short 
account of the voyage which is to be found in William Coxe's Account of 
the Russian Discoveries^ &c., London, 1780, p. 300, it is said expressly that 
Synd considered the coast on which he landed to belong to America. On 
Synd's map, published by Coxe, the north part of the Behring Sea is 
enriched with a number of fictitious islands (St. Agaphonis, St. Myronis, 
St. Titi, St. Samuelis, and St. Andreas). As Synd, according to Sarytchev 
in the work quoted below, p. 11, made the voyage in a boat, it is probable 
that by these names islands were indicated which lay quite close to the 
coast and were not so far from land as shown in the map ; besides, the 
mountain-summits on St. Lawrence Island, which are separated by extensive 
low lands, may perhaps have been taken for separate islands. 



f,58 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

exploration of the sea which bounds the great Russian Emj)ire 
on the north and east. The plan was drawn up by Pallas and 
Coxe, and the carrying out of it was entrusted to an English 
naval officer in the Russian service, J, Billings, who had taken 
part in Cook's last voyage. Among the many others who were 
members of the expedition, may be mentioned Dr. Merk, 
Dr. EoBECK, the secretary Martin Sauer, and the Captains 
Hall, Sarytchev, and Behring the younger, in all more 
than a hundred persons. The expedition was fitted out on a 
very large scale, but in consequence of Billings' unfitness for 
having the command of such an expedition the result by no 
means corresponded to what might reasonably have been exj)ected. 
The expedition made an inconsiderable excursion into the Polar 
Sea from the |th June to the |^^'=:; 1787, and in 1791 Billings 
sailed up to St. Lawrence Bay, from which he went over land 
with eleven men to Yakutsk. The rest of this lengthened 
expedition does not concern the regions now in question.^ 

Among voyages during the century it remains to give account 
of those which have been made by Otto von Kotzebue, who 
during his famous circumnavigation of the globe in 1815—18, 
among other things also passed through Behring's Straits and 
discovered the strata, remarkable in a geological point of view 
at Eschscholz Bay ; Lutke, who during his circumnavigation of 
the globe in 1826—29, visited the islands and sound in the 
neighbourhood of Chukotskoj-nos ; Mo ORE, who wintered at 
Chukotskoj-nos in 1848—49, and gave us much interesting 
information as to the mode of life of the Namollos and 
Chukches; Kellet, who in 1849 discovered Kellet Land and 
Herald Island on the coast of Wrangel Land ; John Rodgers, 
who in 1855 carried out for the American government much 
important hydrographical work in the seas on both sides of 
Behring's Straits ; Dallmann, who during a trading voyage in 
the Behring Sea landed at various points on Wrangel Land ; LoNG, 
who in 1867, as captain of the whaling barque Niie, discovered the 
sound between Wrangel Land and the mainland (Long Sound) 
and penetrated from Behring's Straits westwards farther than 

^ Billings' voyage is described in Martin Sauer's Account of a Geogra- 
phical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Paris of Asia, dc, hy 
Commodore Joseph Billings, London, 1802, and Gavrila Sarycliev's 
Achtjdhrige Reise im ndrdlichen Siherien, auf dem Eismeere und dem nord- 
dstUchen Ocean. Aus dem Rvssischen iihersetzt von J. H. Basse, Leipzig, 
1805-1806. As interesting to our Swedish readers it may be mentioned 
that the Eussian hunter Prybilov informed Sauer that a Swedish brigantine, 
Merhur, coppered, carrying sixteen cannon, commanded by J. H. Coxe, in 
1788, cruised in the Behring Sea in order to destroy the Russian settlements 
there. They however, according to Prybilov's statement to Sauer, "did 
no damage, because they saw that we had nothing worth taking away. 
They instead gave us gifts, because they were ashamed to offer violence 
to such poor fellows as we" (Sauer, p. 213). 



XIII.] VOYAGES FROM BEHKING'S STRAITS WESTWARD. 559 

any of his predecessors ;, Dall, who, at the same time that we 
are indebted to him for many important contributions to the 
knowledge of the natural conditions of the Behrina; Sea, also 
anew examined the ice-strata at ^Eschscholz Bay, and many 
others — but as the historical part of the sketch of the voyage of 
the Vega has already occupied more space than was calculated 
upon, I consider myself compelled with respect to the voyages 
of these explorers to refer to the numerous and for the most 
part accessible writings which have already been published 
regarding them.^ 

Was the Vega actually the first, and is she at the moment 
when this is being written, the only vessel '^that has sailed from 
the Atlantic by the north to the Pacific ? As follows from the 
above narrative, this question may perhaps be answered with 
considerable certainty in the affirmative, as it may also with 
truth be maintained that no vessel has gone the opposite way 
from the Pacific to the Atlantic.^ But the fictitious literature 
of geography at all events comprehends accounts of various 
voyages between those seas by the north passage, and I consider 
myself obliged briefly to enumerate them. 

The first is said to have been made as early as 1555 by a 
Portuguese, Martin Chacke, who affirmed that he had been 
parted from his companions by a west wind, and had been driven 

^ Otto von Kotzebue, Entdeclmngs-Beise in die Sild-See und nach der 
Behrings Strasse, Weimar, 1821 (Part III., Contributions in Natural 
History, by Adelbert von Chamisso). — Louis Ghoris, Voyage pittoresque 
autour du monde, Paris, 1822. 

Frederik Ltitk^, Voyage autour du monde, Paris, 1835-36. — -F. H. von 
Kittlitz, Denhwilrdigheiten einer Reise nach dem russischen Amerika, nach 
Mikronesien und durch Kamtscliatlca, Gotha, 1858. 

Kellet, Voyage of H.M.S. "Herald;' 1845-51, London, 1853 (Discovery 
of Herald Island and the east coast of Wrangel Land). 

W. H. Hooper, Ten Months among the Tents of the TusJci, London, 1853 
(Moore's wintering at Chukotskoj-nos). 

John Rodgers, Behring's Sea and Arctic Ocean, from Surveys of the 
North Pacific Surveying Expedition, 1855 (onlj' charts). — W. Heine, Die 
Expedition in die Seen von China, Japan und Ochotsh, unter Commando von 
Commodore Colin Ringgold und Commodore John Rodgers, Leipzig, 1858 
(the expedition arrived at the result that Wrangel Land did not exist). 

(Lindemann) Wrangels Land im Jahre 1866, durch Kapiten Dallmann 
hesucht {Deutsche Geograph. Blatter, B. iv. p. 54, 1881). 

Petermann, EntdecJcung eines neuen Polar-Landes durch den amerihan, 
Capt. Long, 1867 (Mittheil. 1868, p. 1). — Das neu-entdechte Polar-Land, 
&c. (Mittheil. 1869, p. 26). 

2 It ought to be remembered that the voyage of the distinguished Arctic 
explorer, McClure, carried out with so much gallantry and admirable per- 
severance, from the Pacific to the Atlantic along the north coast of 
America, took place to no inconsiderable extent hj sledge journeys over the 
ice, and that no English vessel has ever sailed by this route from the one 
sea to the other. The North-west Passage has thus never been accomplished 
by a vessel. 



560 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

forward between various islands to the entrance of a sound 
which ran north of America in 59° N.L. ; finally that he had 
come S.W. of Iceland, and thence sailed to Lisbon, arriving 
there before his companions, who took the " common way," i.e. 
south of Africa. In 1579 an English pilot certified that he had 
read in Lisbon in 1567 a printed account of this voyage, which 
however he could not procure afterwards because all the copies 
had been destroyed by order of the king, who considered that 
such a discovery would have an injurious effect on the Indian 
trade of Portugal {Pttrchas, iii. p. 849). We now know that 
there is land where Chacke's channel was said to be situated 
and it is also certain that the sound between the continent ol 
America and the Franklin archipelago tying much farther to the 
north was already in the sixteenth century too much filled with 
ice for its being possible that an account of meeting with ice 
could be omitted from a true sketch of a voyage along the north 
coast of America. 

In 1588 a still more remarkable voyage was said to have been 
made by the Portuguese, LoEENZO Ferrer Maldonado. He is 
believed to have been a cosmographer who among other things 
concerned himself with the still unsolved problem of making a 
compass free from variation, and with the question, very difficult 
in his time, of finding a method of determining the longitude 
at sea (see the work of Amoretti quoted below, p. 38). Of his 
imaginary voyage he has written a long narrative, of which a 
Spanish copy with some drawings and maps was found in a 
library at Milan. The narrative was published in Italian and 
French translations by the superintendent of the library. Chevalier 
Carlo Amoretti,^ who besides added to the work a number of 
his own learned notes, which however do not give evidence of 
experience in Arctic waters. The same narrative has since been 
published in English by J. Barrow {A Chrunological History of 
Voyages into the Arctic Regions, &c., London, 1818. App. p. 24). 
The greater part of Maldonado's report consists of a detailed 
jDlan as to the way in which the new sea route would be used and 
fortified by the Spanish-Portuguese government.^ The voyage 
itself is referred to merely in passing. Maldonado says that in 
the beginning of March he sailed from Newfoundland along the 
north coast of America in a westward direction. Cold, storm, 
and. darkness, were at first very inconvenient for navigation, but 
at all events he reached without difficulty " Anian Sound," which 
separates Asia from America. This is described in detail. Here 
various ships were met with jDrejaared to sail through the sound, 

1 Amoretti, Viaggio del mare Atlaniico al Pasifico per la via del Nord- 
Ovest, &c. Fatto del capitano Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado, I'anno mdlxxxviii. 
Milano, 1811. 

^ At the date of Maldonado's voyage Spain and Portugal were united. 



XIII.] MADELENE'S ACCOUNT. 561 

laden with Chinese goods. The crews appeared to be Russian 
or Hanseatic. Conversation was carried on with them in Latin. 
They stated that they came from a very large town, situated a 
little more than a hundred leagues from the sound. In the 
middle of June Maldonado returned by the way he came to the 
Atlantic, and on this occasion too the voyage was performed 
without the least difficulty. The heat at sea during the return 
•journey was as great as when it is greatest in Spain, and 
meeting with ice is not mentioned. The banks of the river 
which falls into the haven at Anian Sound (according to 
Amoret-ti, identical with Behring's Straits) were overgrown with 
very large trees, bearing fruit all the year round: among the 
animals met with in the regions seals are mentioned, but also 
two kinds of swine, buffaloes, &c. All these absurdities show 
that the whole narrative of the voyage was fictitious, having 
been probably written with the view of thereby giving more 
weight to the proposal to send out a north-west expedition from 
Portugal, and in the full belief that the supposed sound actually 
existed, and that the voyage along vthe north coast of America 
would be as easy of accomplishment as one across the North 
Sea.^ The way in which the icing down of a vessel is described 
indicates that the narrator himself or his informant had been 
exposed to a winter storm in some northern sea, probably at 
Newfoundland, and the spirited sketch of the sound appears to 
have been borrowed from some East Indian traveller, who had 
been driven by storm to northern Japan, and who in a channel 
between the islands in that region believed that he had dis- 
covered the fabulous Anian Sound. 

Of a third voyage in 1660 a naval officer named de la 
Madelene gave in 1701 the following short account, probably 
picked up in Holland or Portugal, to Count DE PoNTCHARTEiN : 
" The Portuguese, David Melguer, started from Japan on the 
14th March, 1660, with the vessel le Phx dternel, and following 
the coast of Tartary, i.e. the east coast of Asia, he first sailed 
north to 84° N.L. Thence he shaped his course between 
Spitzbergen and Greenland, and passing west of Scotland and 
Ireland came again to Oporto in Portugal." M. de la Madeline's 
narrative is to be found reproduced in M. Buache's excellent 
geographical paper " Sur les differentes idees qu on a cues de la 

^ The narratives of the Russian voyagers in the Polar Seas bear a quite 
different stamp. Details are seldom wanting in these, and they correspond 
with known facts, and the discoveries made are of reasonably modest 
dimensions. I therefore consider, as I have said already, that the doubts 
of the trustworthiness of Deschnev, Chelyuskin, Andrejev, Hedenstrom, 
Sannikov, &c., are completely unfounded, and it is highly desirable that 
all journals of Russian explorers in the Polar Sea yet in existence be 
published as soon as possible, and not in a mutilated shape, but in a 
complete and unaltered form. 

• 



562 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

travers^e de la Mfere Glaciale arctique et sur les communications 
ou jonctions qu'on a suppos^es entre di verses rivieres " {Histoire 
de V Acad6mie, Ann6e 1754-, Paris, 1759, Memoires, p. 12). The 
paper is accompanied by a Polar map constructed by Buache 
himself, which, though the voyage which led to its construc- 
tion was clearly fictitious, and though it also contains many 
other errors — for instance, the statement that the Dutch 
penetrated in 1670 to the north part of Taimur Land — is yet 
very valuable and interesting as a specimen of what a learned 
and critical geographer knew in 1754 about the Polar regions. 
That Melguer's voyage- is fictitious is shown partly by the ease 
with which he is said to have gone from the one sea to the 
other, partly by the fact that the only detail which is to be 
found in his narrative, viz. the statement that the coast of 
Tartary extends to 84° N.L*, is incorrect. 

All these and various other similar accounts of north-east, 
north-west, or Polar passages achieved by vessels in former times 
have this in common, that navigation from, the one ocean to the 
other across the Polar S'ea is said to have gone on as easily as 
drawing a line on the map, that meeting with ice and northern 
animals of the chase is never spoken of, and finally that every 
particular which is noted is in conflict with the known geo- 
graphical, climatal, and natural conditions of the Arctic seas. All 
these narratives therefore can be proved to be fictitious, and to 
have been invented by persons who never made any voyages in 
the true Polar Seas. 

The Vega is thus the first vessel that has penetrated by the 
north from one of the great world-oceans to the other. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Passage through Behring's Straits — Arrival at Nunamo — Scarce species of 
seal — Rich vegetation — Passage to America — State of the ice- — ^Port 
Clarence — The Eskimo — Return to Asia — Konyam Bay — Natural con- 
ditions there — The ice breaks up in the interior of Konyam Bay — St. 
Lawrence Island — Preceding visits to the Island — Departure to Behring 
Island. 

After we had passed the easternmost promontory of Asia, 
the course was shaped first to St. Lawrence Bay, a not incon- 
siderable fjord, which indents the Chukch peninsula a little 
south of the smallest part of Behring's Straits. It was my 
intention to anchor in this fjord as long as possible, in order 
to give the naturalists of the Vega expedition an opportunity 
of making acquaintance with the natural conditions of a part 



XIV.>] 



SCARCE SPECIES OF SEAL. 



563 



of Chukch Land which is more favoured by nature than the 
bare stretch of coast completely open to the winds of the Polar 
Sea, which we hitherto had visited. I would willingly have 
stayed first for some hours at Diomede Island, the market-place 
famed among the Polar tribes, situated in the narrowest part of 
the Straits, nearly half-way between Asia and America, and 
probably before the time of Columbus a station for traffic be- 
tween the Old and the New Worlds. But such a delay would 
have been attended with too great difficulty and loss of time in 
consequence of the dense fog which prevailed here on the 
boundary between the warm sea free from drift-ice and the cold 
sea filled with drift-ice. 




SRAL FROM THE BEHRING SEA. 

Hisiriophoca fasciata, Zimiii. 



Even the high mountains on the Asiatic shore were still 
wrapped in a thick mist, from which only single mountain- 
summits now and then appeared. Next the vessel large 
fields of drift-ice were visible, on which here and there flocks 
of a beautifully marked species of seal (Histriophoca fasciata, 
Zimm.) had settled. Between the pieces of ice sea-birds 
swarmed, mostly belonging to other species than those which 
are met with in the European Polar seas. The ice was fortu- 
nately so broken up that the Vega could steam forward at full 
speed to the neighbourhood of St. Lawrence Bay, where the 

d 2 



664 THE VOYAaE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

coast was surrounded by some more compact belts of ice, which 
however were broken through with ease. First, in the mouth 
of the fjord itself impenetrable ice was met with, completely- 
blocking the splendid haven of St. Lawrence Bay, The Vega 
was, therefore, compelled to anchor in the open road off the 
villas^e Nunamo, But even here extensive ice-fields, though 
thin and rotten, drifted about ; and long, but narrow, belts of 
ice passed the vessel in so large masses that it was not advisable 
to remain longer at the place. Our stay there was therefore 
confined to a few hours. 

During the course of the winter Lieutenant Nordquist en- 
deavoured to collect from the Chukches travelling past as 
complete information as possible regarding the Chukch villages 
or encampments which are found along the coast between 
Chaun Bay and Behring's Straits. His informants always 
finished their list with the village Ertryn, situated west of 
Cape Deschnev, explaining that farther east and south there 
lived another tribe, with whom they indeed did not stand in 
open enmity, but who, however, were not to be fully depended 
upon, and to whose villages they therefore did not dare to 
accompany any of us.^ This statement also corresponds, as 
perhaps follows from what I have pointed out in the preceding 
chapter, with the accounts commonly found in books on the 
ethnography of this region. While we steamed forward 
cautiously in a dense fog in the neighbourhood of Cape 
Deschnev, twenty to thirty natives came rowing in a large 
skin boat to the vessel. Eager to make acquaintance with 
a tribe new to us, we received them with pleasure. But when 
they climbed over the side we found that they were pure 
Chukches, some of them old acquaintances, who during winter 
had been guests on board the Vega. " Ankali " said they, with 
evident contempt, are first met with farther beyond St. Lawrence 
Bay, When we anchored next day at the mouth of this bay 
we were immediately, as usual, visited by a large number of 
natives, and ourselves visited their tents on land. They still 
talked Chukch with a limited mixture of foreign words, lived 
in tents of a construction differing somewhat from the Chukches', 

^ The enmity appeared, however, to be of a very passive nature and by 
no- means depending on any tribal dislike, but only arising from the inhab- 
itants of the villages lying farthest eastward being known to be of a 
quarrelsome disposition and having the same reputation for love of fight- 
ing as the peasant youths in some villages in Sweden. For Lieut. Hooper, 
who during the winter 1848-9 made a journey in dog-sledges from Cluikot- 
skoj-nos along the coast towards Behring's Straits says that the inhabitants 
at Cape Deschnev itself enjoyed the same bad reputation among their 
Namollo neighbours to the south as among the Chukches living to the 
westward. "They spoke another language.'' Possibly they were pure 
Eskinao. 



XIV.]. THE POPULATION OF KORTH-EASTEKN ASIA. 565 

and appeared to have a somewhat different cast of countenance. 
They themselves would not allow that there was any national 
difference between them and the old warrior and conqueror 
tribe on the north coast, but stated that the race about 
which we inquired were settled immediately to the south. 
Some days after we anchored in Konyam Bay (64° 49' N.L., 
172° 53' W.L. from Greenwich). We found there only pure 
reindeer-owning Ghukches ; there was no coast population 
living by hunting and fishing. On the other hand, the 
inhabitants near our anchorage off St. Lawrence Island 
consisted of Eskimo and Namollo. It thus appears as if 
a great part of the Eskimo who inhabit the Asiatic side 
of Behring's Straits, had during recent times lost their own 
nationality and become fused with the Ghukches. For it is 
certain that no violent expulsion has recently taken place 
here. It ought besides to be remarked that the name Onldlon 
which Wrangel heard given to the old coast population driven 
out by the Ghukches is evidently nearly allied to the word 
Anhali, with which the reindeer-Ghukch at present distin- 
guishes the coast-Ghukch, also that, in the oldest Hussian 
accounts of Schestakov's and Paulutski's campaigns in these 
regions, there never is any mention of two different tribes 
living here. It is indeed mentioned in these accounts that 
among the slain Ghukches there were found some men with 
perforated lips, but probably these were Eskimo from the 
other side of Beliiing's Straits, previously taken prisoners by 
the Ghukches, or jDerhaps merely Eskimo who had been 
paying a friendly visit to the Ghukches and who had taken 
part as volunteers in their war of freedom. It therefore 
appears to me to be on the whole more probable that the 
Eskimo have migrated from America to Asia, than that, as 
some authors have supposed, this tribe has entered America 
from the west by Behring's Straits or Wrangel Land. 

The tent- village Nunamo, or, as Hooper writes, " Noonah- 
mone," does not lie low, like the Ghukch villages we had 
formerly seen, on the sea-shore, but pretty high up on a 
cape between the sea and a river which debouches immediately 
to the south-west of the village, and now during the snow- 
melting season was much flooded. At a short distance from 
the coast the land was occupied by a very high chain of 
mountains, which was split up into a number of summits and 
whose sides were formed of immense stone mounds distributed 
in terraces. Here a large number of marmots and lagomys 
had their haunt. The lagomj^s, a species of rodent that 
does not occur in Sweden, of the size of a large rat, is remark- 
able for the care with which in summer it collects great stores 
for the winter. The village consisted of ten tents built without 



566 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [oha?. 

order on the first high strand bank. The tents differed some- 
what in construction from the common Chukch tents, and as 
drift-wood appears to be met with on the beach only in hmited 
quantity, whale-bones had been used on a very large scale in 
the frame of the tent. Thus, for instance, the tent-covering 
of seal-skin was stretched downwards over the ribs or lower 
jawbones of the whale which were fixed in the ground like 
poles. These were united above with slips of whale-bones, 
from which other slips of the same sort of bones or of whale- 
bone rose to the summit of the tent, and finally, to prevent 
the blast from raising the tent-covering from the ground, its 
border was loaded with masses of large heavy bones. Eleven 
shoulder-blades of the whale were thus used round a single 
tent. In the absence of drift-wood, whale and seal bones 
drenched in train-oil are also used as fuel in cooking in the 
open air during summer ; a large curved whale rib was placed 
over the fire-place to serve as a pot-holder ; the vertebrae of 
the whale were used as mortars ; the entrances to the blubber- 
cellars were closed with shoulder-blades of the whale ; hollowed 
whale-bones were used as lamps ; slices of whale-bone or pieces 
of the under-jaw and the straighter ribs were used for shoeing 
the sledges, for spades and ice-mattocks, the different parts 
of the implement being bound together with whale-bone 
fibres, &c.^ 

Masses of black seal-flesh, and long, white, fluttering strings 
of inflated intestines, were hung up between the tents, and in 
their interior there were everywhere to be seen bloody pieces 
of flesh, prepared in a disgusting way or lying scattered about, 
whereby both the dwellings and their inhabitants, who were 
occupied with hunting, had a more than usually disagreeable 
appearance. A pleasant interruption was formed by the heaps 
of green willow branches which were placed at the entrance 
of nearly every tent, commonly surrounded by women and 
children, who ate the leaves with delight. At some places 
whole sacks of Rhodiola and various other plants had been 
collected for food during winter. As distinctive of the Chukches 
here it may be mentioned in the last place that they were 
abundantly provided with European household articles, among 
them Remington guns, and thkt none of them asked for 
spirits. 

Most of the seals which were seen in the tents were the common 

1 There is still in existence a sketch of a tribe, living far to the south on 
the coast of the Indian Sea, who at the time of Alexander the Great used 
the bones of the whale in a similar way. "They build their houses so 
that the richest among them take bones of the whale, which the sea casts 
up, and use them as beams ; of the larger bones they make their doors. 
Arrian, Historia Indica, XXIX. and XXX. 



XIIl.] 



RICH VEGETATION. 



567 



Phoca hispida, but along witli them we found several skins of 
Histriophoca fasciata, Zimm., and I even succeeded, though with 
great difficulty, io inducing the Chukches to part with the 
skin and skull of this uncommon species, distinguished by 
its peculiar marking. The natives appeared to set a special 
value on its skin, and parted with it unwillingly. We had 
ourselves, as I have already stated, seen during our passage 




Da ABA. ALPINA L., FROM ST. LAWRENCE BAY. 

Natural size. 



from Behring's Straits a number of these seals on the ice- 
floes drifting south, but the limited time at our disposal did 
not permit us to hunt them. 

When we left Pitlekaj, vegetation there was still far from 
having reached its full development, but at Nunamo the strand- 
bank was gay with an exceedingly rich magnificence of colour. 
On an area of a few acres Dr, Kjellman collected here more than 



568 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

a hundred species of flowering plants, among which were a con- 
siderable number that he had not before seen on the Chukch 
Peninsula. Space does not permit me to give another list of 
plants, but in order that the reader may have an idea of the 
great difference in the mode of growth which the same species 
may exhibit under the influence of different climatal conditions, I 
give here a drawing of the Alpine whitlow grass {Draba alpina, 
L.) from St, Lawrence Bay. It would not, perhaps, be easy 
to recognise in this drawing the species delineated on page 
260, the globular form, which the plant assumed on the 
shore of Cape Chelyuskin exposed to the winds of the Polar 
Sea, has here, in a region protected from them, completely 
disappeared. 

At the rocky headlands there were still, however, considerable 
snowdrifts, and from the heights we could see that considerable 
masses of ice were still drifting along; the Asiatic side of 
Behring's Straits. During an excursion to the top of one of the 
neighbouring mountains. Dr. Stuxberg found the corpse of a 
native laid out on a stone-setting of the form common among 
the Chukches. Alongside the dead man lay a broken percussion 
gun, spear, arrows, tinder-box^ pipe, snow-shade, ice-sieve, and 
various other things which the departed was considered to be in 
Avant of in the part of the Elysian fields set apart for Chukches. 
The corpse had lain on the place at least since the preceding 
summer, but the pipe was one of the clay pipes that I had 
caused to be distributed among the natives. It had thus been 
placed there long after the proper burial. 

Anxious as I was to send off soon from a telegraph station 
some re-assuring lines to the home-land, because I feared that 
a general uneasiness had already begun to be felt for the fate of 
the Vega, I would willingly have remained at this place, so 
important and interesting in a scientific point of view, at least for 
some days, had not the ice-belts and ice-fields drifting about in 
the offing been so considerable that if a wind blowing on land 
had risen unexpectedly, they might readily have been dangerous 
to our vessel, which even now was anchored in a completely 
open road, for the splendid haven situated farther in in 
St. Lawrence Bay was still covered with ice, and consequently 
inaccessible. On the afternoon of 21st July, accordingly, when 
all .were assembled on board pleased and delighted with the 
results of the morning visit to land, I ordered the anchor to 
be weighed that the Vega might steam across to the American 
side of Behring's Straits. As in all the Polar seas of the 
northern hemisphere, so also here, the eastern side of the Straits 
was ice-bestrewn, the western, on the other hand, clear of ice. 
The passage was at all events a rapid one, so that by the after- 
noon of the 2ist July we were able to anchor in Port Clarence^ 



XIV.] VISIT TO PORT CLARENCE. 569 

an excellent haven south of the westernmost promontory of Asia, 
Cape Prince of Wales. It tvas the first time the Vega anehored 
in a 'projper haven, since on the 18th August 1878 she left Actinia 
Haven on Taimur Island. During the intermediate time 
she had been constantly anchored or moored in open roads 
without the least land shelter from sea, wind, and drift-ice. The 
vessel was, however, thanks to Captain Palander's judgment and 
thoughtfulness, and the ability of the officers and crew, still not 
only quite free from damage, but even as seaworthy as when she 
left the dock at Karlskrona, and we had still on board provisions 
for nearly a year, and about 4,000 cubic feet of coal. 

Towards the sea Port Clarence is protected by a long low 
sandy reef, between the north end of which and the land there 
is a convenient and deep entrance. There a considerable river 
falls into the interior of the harbour, the mouth of which widens 
to a lake, which is separated from the outer harbour by a sandy 
neck of land. This lake also forms a good and spacious harbour, 
but its entrance is too shallow for vessels of any considerable 
draught. The river itself, on the contrary, is deep, and about 
eighteen kilometres from its mouth flows through another lake, 
from the eastern shore of which rugged and shattered mountains 
rise to a height which I estimate at 800 to 1,000 metres ; but it 
is quite possible that their height is twice as great, for in making 
such estimates one is liable to fall into error. South of the river 
and the harbour the land rises abruptly from the river bank, 
which is from: ten to twenty metres high. On the north side, on 
the other hand, the bank is for the most part low, but farther 
into the interior the ground rises rapidly to rounded hills from 
300 to 400 metres high. Only in the valleys and at other places 
where very large masses of snow had collected during the winter, 
were snow-drifts still to be seen. On the other hand, we saw no 
glaciers, though we might have expected to find them on the 
sides of the. high mountains which bound the inner lake on the 
east. It was also clear ■ that during the recent ages no widely 
extended ice-sheet was to be found here, for in the many 
excursions we madfe in different directions, among others up the 
river to the lake just mentioned, we saw nowhere any moraines, 
erratic blocks, striated' 'rock-surfaces, or other traces of a past 
ice-age. Many signs, on the other hand, indicate that during 
a not very remote geological period glaciers covered consider- 
able areas of the opposite Asiatic shore, and contributed to 
excavate the fjords there — Kolyutschin Bay, St. Lawrence Bay, 
Metschigme Bay, Konyam Bay, &c. 

When we appoached the American side we could see that the 
shore cliffs were formed of stratified rocks. I therefore hoj)ed 
to be able, at last, to make a rich collection of fossils, something 
that I had no opportunity of doing during the preceding part of 



570 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap, xiv. 

the voyage. But I found, on reaching them, that the stratified 
rocks only consisted of crystalline schists without any traces of 
animal or vegetable remains. Nor did we find on the shore 
any whale-bones or any of the remarkable mammoth-bearing 
ice-strata which were discovered in the bay situated immediately 
north of Behring's Straits, which was named after Dr. EscH- 
SCHOLZ, medical officer during Kotzebue's famous voyage.' 

Immediately after the anchor fell we were visited by several 
very large skin boats and a large number of kayaks. The 
latter were larger than the Greenlanders', being commonly in- 
tended for two persons, who sat back to back in the middle of 
the craft. We even saw boats from which, when the two 
rowers had stepped out, a third person crept who had lain 
almost hermetically sealed in the interior of the kayak, 
stretched on the bottom without the possibility of moving his 
limbs, or saving himself if any accident should happen. It 
appeared to be specially common for children to accompany 
their elders in kayak voyages in this inconvenient way. 

After the natives came on board a lively traffic commenced, 
whereby I acquired some arrow-points and stone fishing-hooks. 
Anxious to procure as abundant material as possible for 
instituting a comparison between the household articles of 
the Eskimo and the Chukches, I examined carefully the skin- 
bags which the natives had with them. In doing so I picked 
out one thing after the other, while they did not object to me 
making an inventory. One of them, however, showed great 
unwillingness to allow me to get to the bottom of the sack, but 
this just made me curious to ascertain what precious thing was 
concealed there. I was urgent, and went through the bag half 

^ These strata were discovered diu-ing Kotzebue's circumnavigation of 
he globe {Entdechungs Re'ist, Weimar, 1821, i. p. 146, and ii.'^p. 170). 
The strand-bank was covered by an exceedingly luxuriant vegetable 
carpet, and rose to a height of eighty feet above the sea. Here the " rock," 
if this word can be used for a stratum of ice, was found to consist of pure 
ice, covered with a layer, ovlXj six inches thick, of blue clay and turf-earth. 
The ice must have been several hundr.ed thousand years old, for on its 
being melted a large number of bones and tusks of the mammoth appeared, 
from which we may draw the conclusion that the ice-stratum was formed 
during the period in which the mammoth lived in these regions. This 
remarkable observation has been to a certain extent disputed by later 
travellers, but its correctness has recently been fully confirmed by Dall. 
On the other hand, the extent to which the strong odour, which was 
observed at the place and resembled that of bumed horns, arose from the 
decaying mammoth remains, is perhaps uncertain. Kotzebue fixed the 
latitude of the place at 06^ 15' 36". During Beechey's voyage in 1827 the 
place was thoroughly examined by Mr. Collie, the medical officer of the 
expedition. He brought home thence a large number of the bones of the 
mammoth, ox, musk-ox, reindeer, and horse, which were described by the 
famous geologist Buckland (F. W. Beechey, Narrative of a Voyage to the 
Pacific and Behring^s Straits, lS2o-2S. London, 1831, ii. Appendix). 




HUNTING IMPLEMENTS AT PORT CLARENCE. 



1. Bird-dart with wooden handle for throwing, one-ninth of the natural size. 2. Whale-harpoon with 
flint point, one-twelfth. 3. Harpoon-point of bone and nephrite, one-half. 4. Bone leister, one-third. 
5. Awl, one-half. 6. Harpoon, one-twelfth. 7. Flint dart-point, one-half. 8. Arrows or harpoon- 
ends with points of iron, stone or glass, one-eighth. 9. Quiver, one-eighth. 



572 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



with violence, until at last, in the bottom, I got a solution of 
the riddle — a loaded revolver. Several of the natives had also 
breechloaders. The oldest age with stone implements, and the 
most recent period with breechloaders, thus here reach hands 
one to the other. 

Many natives were evidently migrating to more northerly 
hunting-grounds and fishing places, perhaps also to the markets 
and play-booths, which Dr. John Simpson describes in his well- 
known paper on the West Eskimo.^ Others had already pitched 
their summer tents on the banks of the inner harbour, or of the 
river before mentioned. On the other hand, there was found in 






-.:i=-i 






/* . ' i . ' J. ^ ' 








^^^^>•. 



'^^^-^ 



ESKIMO FAMILY AT PORT CLARENCE. 

(After a photograpi by L. Palander.) 



the region only a small number of winter dwellings abandoned 
during the warm season of the year. The population consisted, 
as has been said, of Eskimo. They did not understand a word 
of Chukch. Among them, however, we found a Chukch woman, 
who stated that true Chukches were found also on the American 
side, north of Behring's Straits. Two of the men spoke a little 
English, one had even been at San Francisco, another at 
Honolulu. Many of their household articles reminded us of 
contact with American whalers, and justice demands the 

■■■ Further Papers relative to the recent Arctic Expedition, etc. Presented 
to both Houses of Parliament. London, 1855, p. 917. 



XIV. ]^ 



THE ESKIMO AT PORT CLARENCE. 



573 



recognition of the fact that in opposition to what we commonly 
see stated, contact with men of civilised race appears to have 
been to the advantage and improvement of the savage in an 
economical and moral point of view. Most of them now lived 
in summer-tents of thin cotton cloth ; many wore European 
clothes, others were clad in trousers of seal or reindeer-skin and 
a light, soft, often beautifully ornamented pesk of marmot skin, 
over which in rainy weather was worn an overcoat made of 
pieces of gut sewn together. The arrangement of the hair 
resembled that of the Chukches. The women were tattooed with 




ESKIMO AT PORT CLARENCE. 

(After a photograph by L. Palander.) 

some lines on the chin. Many of the men wore small 
moustaches, some even a scanty beard, while others had 
attempted the American goatee. Most of them, but not all, 
had two holes from six to seven millimetres in length, cut in the 
lips below the corners of the mouth. In these holes were worn 
large pieces of bone, glass, or stone (figure 9, page 578). But 
these ornaments were often removed, and then the edges of the 
large holes closed so much that the face was not much dis- 
figured. Many had in addition a similar hole forward in the 



574 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. XIV. 



lip. It struck me, however, that this strange custom was about, 
to disappear completely, or at least to be Europeanised by the 
exchange of holes in the ears for holes in the mouth. An 
almost full-grown young woman had a large blue glass bead 
hanging from the nose, in whose partition a hole had been 
made for its suspension, but she was very much embarrassed and 
hid her head in a fold of mama's^esZ:, when this piece of grandeur 
attracted general attention. All the women had long strings of 
beads in the ears. They wore bracelets of iron or copper, resem- 
bling those of the Chukches. The colour of the skin was not 
very dark, with perceptible redness on the cheeks, the hair black 
and tallow-like, the eyes small, brown, slightly oblique, the 
face flat, the nose small and depressed at the root. Most of 
the natives were of average height, appeared to be healthy and 




ESKIMO AT POET CLARENCE. 

(After photographs by L. Palander.) 



in good condition, and were marked neither by striking thinness 
nor corpulence. The feet and the hands were small. 

A certain elegance and order prevailed in their small tents, 
the floor of which was covered with mats of plaited plants. In 
many places vessels formed of cocoa-nut shells were to be seen, 
brought thither, like some of the mats, by whalers from the 
South Sea Islands. For the most part their household and 
hunting implements, axes, knives, saws, breechloaders, revolvers, 
&c., were of American origin, but they still used or preserved in 
the lumber repositories of the tent, bows and arrows, bird-darts, 
bone boat-hooks, and various stone implements. The fishing 
implements especially were made with extraordinary skill of 
coloured sorts of bone or stone, glass beads, red pieces of the 
:feet of certain swimming birds, &c. The different materials 




ESKIMO FISHING IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 

1—6. Salmon hcoks of stone of different colotirs, and bone in the form of beetles, tme-half of the 
natural size. 7. Fishing-rod, one-sixth. 8. End of rod. 9. Eone sinker with tufts and 
fish-hook, one-half. 10. Fish-hook with bone points, one-half. 11. Fish-hook with iron- 
wire points, (ne-half. 12. Stow-speotacles, cne-third. 



576 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

were bound together by twine made of whalebone in such a 
manner that they resembled large beetles, being intended for 
use in the same way as salmon-flies at home. 

Fire was got partly with steel, flint, and tinder, partly by 
means of the fire-drill. Many also used American lucifers. The 
bow of the fire-drill was often of ivory, richly ornamented with 
hunting figures of different kinds. Their tools were more 
elegant, better carved and more richly coloured with graphite ^ 
and red ochre than those of the Chukches; the people were 
better off and owned a larger number of skin-boats, both 
kayaks and umiaks. This undoubtedly depends on the sea 
being here covered with ice for a shorter time and the ice being 
thinner than on the Asiatic side, and the hunting accordingly 
being better. All the old accounts however agree in represent- 
ing that in former times the Chukches were recognised as a 
great power by the other savage tribes in these regions, but 
all recent observations indicate that that time is now past. A 
certain respect for them, however, appears still to prevail among 
their neighbours. 

The natives, after the first mistrust had disappeared, were 
friendly and accommodating, honourable in their dealings though 
given to begging and to much haggling in making a bargain. 
There appeared to be no chief among them ; complete equality 
prevailed, and the position of the woman did not appear to be 
inferior to that of the man. The children were what we would 
call in Europe well brought up, though they got no bringing up 
at all. All were heathens. The liking for spirits appeared to 
be less strong than among the Chukches. We learn besides 
that all selling of spirits to savages is not only forbidden on 

^ (xraphite must be found in great abundance on the Asiatic side of 
Behring's Straits. I procured during winter a number of pieces, which had 
evidently been rolled in running water. Chamisso mentions in Kotzebue's 
Voyages (iii. p. 169) that he had seen this. mineral along with red ochre 
among the inhabitants at St. Lawrence Bay ; and Lieut. Hooper states in 
his work (p. 139), that graphite and red ochre are found at the village 
Oongwysac between Chukotskoj-nos and Behring's Straits. The latter 
colour was sold at a high price to the inhabitants of distant encamp- 
ments. These minerals have undoubtedly been used in the same way from 
time immemorial, and they are probably, like flint and nephrite, among 
the few kinds of stone which were used by the men of the Stone Age. So 
far as is known, graphite came first into use in Europe during the middle 
ages. A black-lead pencil is mentioned and delineated for the first time 
by Conrad Gessner in 1565. The rich but now exhausted graphite seam 
at Borrowdale, in England, is mentioned for the first time by Dr. Merret 
in 1667, as containing a useful mineral peculiar to England. Very rich 
graphite seams have been found during recent decades, both at the 
mouth of the Yenisej (SidorofE's graphite quarry) and at a spur of 
the Sayan mountains in the southern part of Siberia (Alibert's graphite 
quarry), and these discoveries have played a certain role in the recent 
history of the exploration of the country. 



XIV.] THE ESKIxMO AT PORT CLARENCE. ■ 577 

the American side, but forbidden in sucb a way that the law 
is obeyed. 

During our stay among the Ghukches my supj)ly of articles 
for barter was very limited ; for up to the hour of departure 
uncertainty prevailed as to the time at which we would get 
free, and I was therefore compelled to be sparing of the stores. 
I often found it difficult on that account to induce a Chukch to 
part with things which. I wished to acquire. Here on the 
contrary I was a rich man, thanks to the large surplus that 
was over from our abundant winter equipment, which of 
course in warm regions would have been of no use to us. I 
turned my riches to account by making visits like a pedlar in the 
tent villages with sacks full of felt hats, thick clothes, stockings, 
ammvmition, &c., for which goods I obtained a beautiful and 
choice collection of ethnographical articles. Among these may 
be mentioned beautiful bone etchings and carvings, and several 
arrow-points and other tools of a species of nephrite,^ which is 
so puzzlingly like the well-known nephrite from High Asia, that 
I am disposed to believe that it actually comes originally from 
that locality. In such a case the occurrence of nephrite at 
Behring's Straits is important, because it cannot be explained in 
any other way than either by supposing that the tribes hving 
here have carried the mineral with them from their original 
home in High Asia, or that during the Stone Age of High Asia 
a like extended commercial intercommunication took place 
between the wild races as now exists, or at least some decades 
ago existed, along the north parts of Asia and America. 

Nephrite is a light green, sometimes grass-green, very hard and compact 
species of araphibolite, which occurs in High Asia, Mexico, and New Zealand. 
At all these places it has been employed for stone implements, vases, 
pipes, &c. The Chinese put an immensely high value upon it, and the 
wish to procure nephrite is said often to have determined their politics, 
to have caused wars, and impressed its stamp on treaties of peace con- 
cluded between millions. I also consider it probable that the precious 
Vasa Murrhina, Avhich was brought to Rome after the campaign against 
Mithiidates, and has given rise to so much discussion, was nephrite. 
Nephrite was also perhaps the first of all stones to be used ornamentally. 
For we find axes and chisels of this material among the people of the 
Stone Age both in Europe (where no locality is known where unworked 
nephrite is found) and in Asia, America, and New Zealand. In Asia 
implements of nephrite are found both on the Chukch Peninsula and in old 
graves from the Stone Age in the southern part of the country. They 
have been discovered at Telma, sixty versts from Irkutsk, by Mr. J. N. 
Wilkoffski, conservator of the East Siberian Geographical Society. In 
scientific mineralogy nephrite is first mentioned under the name of Kascho- 
long (i.e. a species of stone from the river Kasch). It has been brought 
home under this name by Renat, a prisoner-of-war from Charles XII. 's 
army, from High Asia, and was given by him to Swedish nu'neralogists, 
who described it very correctly, though kascholong has since been 
erroneously considered a species of quartz. 

P P 




ESKIMO BONE-CARVINGS, ETC. 

1 5. Buttons to earry'ng-straps. representing heads of the Polar hear, seals, &c.. carved in 

walrus ivorj% one-half of the natural size. 6. Carrying-strap with a similar button, carved 
in the form of a seal, one-third. 7 Stone chisel, one-half. 8. Oonil-i. one-third, f). Buttons 
of bone, glass, or stone, to be placed in holes in the lips, natural size. 10. Ivory diadem, 
two-thirds. 



CHAP. XIV.] THE ESKIMO AT PORT CLARENCE. 579 

On the north side of the harbour we found an old Euro- 
pean or American train-oil boiling establishment. In the 
neighbourhood of it were two Eskimo graves. The corpses had 
been laid on the ground fully clothed, without the protection 
of any coflSn, but surrounded by a close fence consisting of a 
number of tent poles driven crosswise into the ground. Along- 
side one of the corpses lay a kayak with oars, a loaded double- 
barrelled gun with locks at half-cock and caps on, various other 
weapons, clothes, tinderbox, snow-shoes, drinking-vessels, two 
masks carved in wood and smeared with blood (figures 1 and 
2, page 581), and strangely-shaped animal figures. Such 
were seen also in the tents. Bags of sealskin, intended to be 
inflated and fastened to harpoons as floats, were sometimes 
ornamented with small faces carved in wood (figure 3, page 
581). In one of the two amulets of the same kind, which 




ESKIMO GRAVE. 

(After a drawing by 0. Nordquist.) 



I brought home with me, one eye is represented by a piece 
of blue enamel stuck in, and the other by a piece of iron 
pyrites fixed in the same way. Behind two tents were found, 
erected on posts a metre and a half in height, roughly-formed 
wooden images of birds with expanded wings painted red. I 
endeavoured without success to purchase these tent-idols-^ for 
a large new felt hat — an article of exchange for which in other 
cases I could obtain almost anything whatever. A dazzlingly 
white kayak of a very elegant shape, on the other hand, 
I purchased without difficulty for an old felt hat and 500 
Remington cartridges. 

As a peculiar proof of the ingenuity of the Americans when 
offering their goods for sale, it may be mentioned in conclusion 
that an Eskimo, who came to the vessel during our stay in the 
harbour, showed us a printed paper, by which a commercial house 

^ The Eskimo however, like the Chukches, do not appear to have any 
proper religion or idea of a life after this. 

• P P 2 



580 



THE VOYAGE OF THE \¥A\\. 



[OHAr. MV. 

at San Francisco oftored to "sporting gentlemen" at Behring's 
Straits (Kskinio?) their stock of exceUent hnnting sliot. 

As the west coast of Europe is washed by the Gulf Stream, 
there also runs along the Pacific coast of America a warm 
current, which gives the land a much milder climate than that 
which prevails on the neighbouring Asiatic side, where, as on 
tlie east coast of Greenhmd, there runs a cold northerly current. 
The limit of trees therefore in north-western An\erica a'oes 
11 good way JioHh of Behring's Straits, while on the Chukch 
Peninsula wood appears to be wdiolly Avanting, Even at Port 
Clarence the coast is devoid of trees, but some kilometres 
into the country alder bushes two feet high are met with, and 
behind the coast hills actual forests probably occur. Vegetation 




ANIMAL riGVKK FUOM AN FSKIMO CUAVE. 

a. From above, h. From the side. 
(Oue-tliinl of tlio utiturnl size.) 



is besides already luxuriant at the coast, and far away here, on 
the coast of the New World, many species are to be found 
nearly allied to Scandinavian plants, among them the Linncca. 
Dr. Kjellman therefore reaped here a rich botanical harvest, 
valuable for the purpose of comparison with the tiora of the 
neighboiuiug }>ortion of Asia and other High Arctic regions. 
Dr. Almquist in like manner collected very extensive materials 
for investigating the lichen-tlora of the region, probably before 
very incompletely known. The harvest of the zoologists, on the 
other hand, was scanty. Notwithstanding the luxuriant vege- 
tation land-evertebrates appeared to occur in a nnu'h smaller 
number of species than in northern Norway. Of beetles, lor 
instance, only from ten to twenty species could be found, 




G 7 

ETHNOGRAPHICAL OBJKCTS FROM PORT CLARENCE. 

1. -1. Wooden masks found at a grave, one-sixth of tlie natural size. ?.. Amulet a face with one pv.. 
01 enamel, he other of pyrites from a harpoon-float of sealskin, o,.e-U.ird 4 Oarronr.n ie"ctntl ' 
ivo5rone-Mir' ""' '""■''' '''"■^'' ''"^'""rth. 7. Carved knrhandleOoi 



5S2 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



mainly Harpalids and Staphylinids, and of land and fresh-water 
mollusca only seven or eight species, besides which nearly all 
occnrred very sparingly. Among remarkable fishes may be 
mentioned the same black marsh-fish which we caught at 
Yinretlen. The avi-fauna was scanty for a high northern land, 
and of wild mammalia we saw only musk-rats. Even the 
dredgings in the harbour yielded, on account of the unfavourable 
nature of the bottom, only an inconsiderable number of animals 
and algse. 

On the 26th July, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we 
weighed anchor and steamed back in splendid weather and 
with for the most part a favourable wind to the shore of the 
Old World. In order to determine the salinity and temperature 




SHtLL FROM BEHRING S STRAITS. 

Fusus deformis, Reeve. 



at different depths, soundings were made and samples of water 
taken every four hours during the passage across the straits. 
Trawling was besides carried on three times in the twenty-four 
hours, commonly with an extraordinarily abundant yield, among 
other things of large shells, as, for instance, the beautiful Fusus 
deformis, Reeve, with its twist to the left, and some large 
species of crabs. One of the latter {Chionoecetes opilio, Kroyer) 
the dredge sometimes brought up in hundreds. We cooked 
and ate them and found them excellent, though not very rich 
in flesh. The taste was somewhat sooty. 

Lieutenant Bove constructed the diagram reproduced at 
page 583, which is based on the soundings and other obser- 



XIV.] 



SUEVEY OF BEHRING'S STRAITS. 



583 



vations made during the passage, from which we see how 
shallow is the sound which in the northernmost part of the 
Pacific separates the Old World from the New. An elevation 
<jf the land less than that which has taken place since the 
glacial period at the well-known Chapel Hills at Uddevalla would 
evidently be sufficient to unite the two worlds with each other 
by a broad bridge, and a corresponding depression would have 
been enough to separate them if, as is probable, they were at 
one time continuous. The diagram shows besides that the 
deepest channel is -quite close to the -coast of the Chukch 
Peninsula, and that that channel contains a mass of cold watej, 

DIAGRAM, 

Showing the Temperature and Depth of the water at Behring's Straits between Port Clarence 

and Sen.javin Sound. 

By G. BovE. 




MN 8 e. m. 
28 July, 1879 

Lat. fi5°00' 

Long. 170°68' 



4 e. m. MD 8 f. m. 4 f. m. 



65°0.5' 
170°17' 



65°''0' 
169 47' 



6o°04' 
168°52' 



65°08' 
168°24' 



MN 
27 July, 1879 

65^2^ 
168°01' 



8 e. m. 
27 July, 1879 

'65°17' 
166°47' 



Temperature at the surface. 

,, at a depth of 30 metres. 

„ at the bottom. 



50 100 150 200 



which is separated by a ridge from the warmer water on the 
American side. 

If we examine a map of Siberia we shall find, as I have 
already pointed out, that its coasts at most places are straight, 
and are thus neither indented with deep fjords surrounded with 
high mountains like the west coast of Norway, nor protected 
by an archipelago of islands like the greater part of the coasts 
of Scandinavia and Pinland, Certain parts of the Chukch 
Peninsula, especially its south-eastern portion, form the only 
exception to this rule. Several small fjords here cut into 



584 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

the coasts, wliicli consist of stratified granitic rocks, and in the 
offing two large and several small rocky islands form an archi- 
pelago, separated from the mainland by the deep Senjavin 
Sound. The wish to give our naturalists an opportunity of 
once more prosecuting their examination of the natural history 
of the Chukch Peninsula, and the desire to study one of the 
few parts of the Siberian coast which in all probability were 
formerly cover-ed witk inland ice, led me to choose this i3lace 
for the second anchorage of the Vegcc. on the Asiatic side south 
of Behring's Straits. The Vega accordingly anchored here on 
Vie forenoon of the 28th July, but not, as was at first in- 
tended, in Glasenapp Harbour, because it was still occupied by 
unbroken ice, but in the mouth of the most northerly of the 
fjords, Konyam Bay. 

This portion of the Chukch Peninsula had been visited before 
us by the corvette Senjavin, commanded by Captain, afterwards 
Admiral, Fr. Liitke, and by an English Franklin Expedition on 
board the Plover, commanded by Captain Moore. Liitke stayed 
here with his companions, the naturalists Mertens, Postels, and 
KlTTLlTZ, some days in August 1828, during which the harbour 
wa^ surveyed and various observations in ethnography and the 
nitural sciences made. Moore wintered at this place in 1848-49. 
I have already stated that we have his companion, Lieut. W. H. 
Hooper, to thank for very valuable information relating to the 
tribes which live in the neighbourhood. The region appears to 
have been then inhabited by a rather dense population. Now 
there lived at the bay where we had anchored only three 
reindeer-Chukch families, and the neighbouring islands must 
at the time have been uninhabited, or perhaps the arrival, of 
the Vega may not have been observed, for no -natives Cameron 
board, which otherwise would probably have been the case. 

The shore at the south-east part of Konyam Bay, in which 
the Vega now lay at anchor for a couple of days, consists of a 
rather desolate bog, in which a large number of cranes were 
breeding. Farther into the country several mountain summits 
rise to a height of nearly 600 metres. The collections of the 
zoologists and botanists on this shore were very scanty, but on 
the north side of the bay, to which excursions were made with 
the steam-launch, grassy slopes were met with, with jDretty high 
bushy thickets and a great variety of flowers, which enriched 
Dr. Kjellman's collection of the higher plants from the north 
coast of Asia with about seventy species. Here were found too 
the first land mollusca (Succinea, Limax, Helix, Pupa, &c.) on 
the Chukch Peninsula.^ 

^ We have already found some land mollusca at Port Clarence, but none 
i^t St. Lawrence Bay. The northernmost find of such animals now known 



XIV.] KONYAM BAY. 585 

We also visited the dwellings of the reindeer-Chukch 
families. They resembled the Chukch tents we had seen 
before, and the mode of life of the inhabitants differed little 
from that of the coast-Chukches, with whom we passed the 
winter. They were even clothed in the same way, excepting 
that the men wore^ .a, nnmber of small bells in the belt. . The 
number of the reindeer which the three" ^lamilies owned., was, 
according to an enumeration^which I made when the herd had 
with evident pleasure settled down at noon in warm sunshine 
on a snow-field in the neighbourhood of the tents, only about 
400, thus considerably fewer than is required to feed three Lapp 
families. The Chukches have instead a better supply of fish, 
and, above all, better hunting than the Lapps ; they also do 
not drink any coffee, and themselves collect a part of their 
food from the vegetable kingdom. The natives received us in 
a very friendly way, and offered to sell or rather barter three 
reindeer, a transaction which on aecount of our hasty departure 
was not carried into effect. 

The mountains in the neighbourhood of Konyam Bay were 
high and split up into pointed summits with deep valleys still 
partly filled with snow. No glaciers a]3pear to exist there at 
present. Probably however the fjords here and the sounds, 
like St. Lawrence Bay, Kolyutschin Bay, and probably all the 
other deeper bays on the coast of the Chukch Peninsula, have 
been excavated by former glaciers. It may perhaps be un- 
certain whether a true inland-ice covered the whole country ; 
it is certain that the ice-cap did not extend over the plains of 
Siberia, where it can be proved that no Ice Age in a Scandi- 
navian sense ever existed, and where the sfe,te~of the land from 
the Jurassic period onwards was indeed subjected to some 
changes, but to none of the thoroughgoing mundane revolutions 
which in former times geologists loved to depict in so bright 
colours. At least the direction of the rivers appears to have 
been unchanged since then. Perhaps even the difference 
between the Siberia where Chikanovski's Ginho woods grew 
and the mammoth roamed about, and that where now at a 
limited depth under the surface constantly frozen ground is to 
be met with, depends merely on the isothermal lines having 
sunk slightly towards the equator. 

The neighbourhood of Konyam Bay consists of crystalline 
rocks, granite poor in mica, and mica-schist lowermost, and then 
grey non-fossiliferous carbonate of lime, and last of all magnesian 
schists, porphyry, and quartzites. On the summits of the hills 
the granite has a rough trachytic appearance, but does not 
pass into true trachyte. Here however we are already in the 

Avas made by Von Middendorff, who found a species of Pliysa on the 
Taimur Peninsula. 



CHAP. XIV.] ST. LAWEENCE ISLAND. 587 

neighbourhood of the volcanic hearths of Kamchatka, which for 
instance is shown by the hot spring, which Hooper discovered 
not far from the coast during a sledge journey towards Behring's 
Straits. In the middle of the severe cold of February its waters 
had a temperature of + 69° C. Hot steam and drifting snow 
combined had thrown over the spring a lofty vault of dazzling 
whiteness formed of masses of snow converted into ice and 
covered with ice-crystals. The Chukches themselves appear 
to have found the contrast striking between the hot spring 
from the interior of the earth and the cold, snow, and ice on its 
surface. They offered blue glass beads to the spring, and 
showed Hooper, as something remarkable, that it was possible 
to boil fish in it, though the mineral water gave the boileji fish 
a bitter unpleasant taste.^ 

The interior of Konyam Bay was during our stay there still 
covered by an unbroken sheet of ice. This broke up on the 
afternoon of the .30th July, and had almost, rotten as it was, 
suddenly brought the voyage of the Ve</a to a termination by 
pressing her ashore. Fortunately the danger was observed in 
time. Steam was got up, the anchor weighed, and the vessel 
removed to the open part of the fjord. As on this account 
several cubic feet of coal had to be used for getting up steam, as 
our hitherto abundant stock of coal must now be saved, and as 
in the last place I was still urged forward by the fear that a 
too lengthened delay in sending home despatches might not 
only cause much anxiety but also lead to a heavy expenditure 
of money, I preferred to sail .on immediately rather than to 
enter a safer harbour in the neighbourhood from which tte 
scientific work might continue to be prosecuted. 

The course was now shaped for the north-west point of St. 
Lawrence Island. A little off Senjavin Sound we saw drift-ice 
for the last time. On the whole the quantity of ice which drifts 
down through Behring's Straits into the Pacific is not very 
great, and most of that which is met with in summer on the 
Asiatic side of the Behring Sea, is evidently formed in fjords and 
bays along the coast. South of Behring's Straits accordingly I 
saw not a single iceberg nor any large block of glacier-ice, but 
only even and very rotten fields of bay-ice. 

The Vega was anchored on the 31st July in an open bay on 
the north-western side of St. Lawrence Island. This island, 
called by the natives Enguae, is the largest one between the 
Aleutian Islands and Behring's Straits, It lies nearer Asia 

^ That a fire-emitting mountain was to be found in Siberia east of the 
Yenisej is already mentioned in a treatise by Isaak Massa, inserted in 
Hessal Gerritz, Detectlo Freti, Amsterdam, 1612. The rumour about the 
volcanos of Kamchatka thus appears to have reached Europe at that early 
date. . 



588 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 

than America, but is considered to belong to the latter, for 
which reason it was handed over along with the Alaska 
Territory by Russia to the United States, The island is inha- 
bited by a few Eskimo families, who have commercial relations 
with their Chukch neighbours on the Russian side, and therefore 
have adopted some words from their language. Their dress also 




TATTOOING PATTERNS, FROM ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND. 

1, 2. Face-tattooing. 3. Arm-tattooing. 
(After drawings by A. Stuxberg.) 



resembles that of the Chukches, with the exception that, want- 
ing reindeer-skin, they use jDesks made of the skins of birds and 
marmots. Like the Chukches and Eskimo they use overcoats 
of pieces of seal-gut sewed together. On St. Lawrence Island 
their dress is much ornamented, chiefly with tufts of feathers of 
the sea-fowl that breed in innumerable flocks on the island. It 



XIV.] 



ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND. 



589 



even appears that gut clothes are made here for sale to other 
tribes ; otherwise it would be difficult to explain how Kotzebue's 
sailors could in half an hour purchase at a single encampment 
200 coats of this kind. At the time of our visit all the natives 
went bareheaded, the men with their black tallow-like hair 
clipped to the root, with the exception of the common small 
border above the forehead. The women wore their hair 
plaited and adorned with beads, and were much tattooed, partly 
after very intricate patterns, as is shown by the accompanying 
woodcuts. Like the children they mostly v/ent barefooted and 
barelegged. They were well grown, and many did not look ill, 
but all were merciless beggars, who actually followed our 
naturalists on their excursions on land. 




TATTOOED WOMAN, FROM ST. LiWRENCE ISLAND. 

(After a drawing by A. Stuxberg.) 



The summer-tents were irregular, but pretty clean and light 
huts of gut, stretched on a frame of drift-wood and whale-btmes. 
The winter dwellings were now abandoned. They appeared 
to consist of holes in the earth, which were covered above, with 
the exception of a square opening, with drift-wood and turf. 
During winter a sealskin tent was probably stretched over 
this opening, but it was removed for the time, probably to 
permit the summer heat to penetrate into the hole and melt 
the ice, which had collected during winter on its walls. At 
several tents we found large under-jaws of whales fixed in the 
ground. They were perforated above, and I suppose that the 
winter-tent, in the absence of other framework, was stretched 
over them. Masses of whale-bones lay thrown up along the 



590 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

shore, evidently belonging to the same species as those we 
collected at the shore-dunes at Pitlekaj. In the neighbourhood 
of the tents graves were also found. The corj)ses had been 
placed, unburned, in some cleft among the rocks which are split 
up by the frost, and often converted into immense stone mounds. 
They had afterwards been covered with stones, and skulls of 
the bear and the seal and whale-bones had been offered or 
scattered around the grave. 

North-east of the anchorage the shore was formed of low hills 
rising with a steep slope from the sea. Here and there ruinlike 
cliffs projected from the hills, resembling those we saw on the coast 
of Chukch Land. But the rock here consisted of the same sort of 
granite which formed the lowennost stratum at Konyam Bay. It 
was principally at the foot of these slopes that the natives erected 
their dwellings. South-west of the anchorage commenced a very 
extensive plain, which towards the interior of the island was 
marshy, but along the coast formed a firm, even, grassy meadow 
exceedingly rich in flowers. It was gay with the large sunflower- 
like Arnica Psetido- Arnica, and another sj)ecies of Senecio {Scnecio 
frigidus) ; the Oxytropis nigrcsccns, close-tufted and rich in flowers, 
not stunted here as in Chukch Land ; several species of Pedicu- 
laris in their fullest bloom {P. sudetica, P. Langsdorfii, P. Oederi 
and P. capitafa) ; the stately snow auricula {Primula nivalis), 
and the pretty Primula lorealis. As characteristic of the 
vegetation at this place may also be mentioned several ranunculi, 
an anemone {Anemone narcissijiora) , a siDecies of monkshood 
with flowers few indeed, but so much the larger on that account, 
large tufts oi Silene acaidis and Alsine macrocari^a, studded with 
flowers, several Saxifrages, two Claytonise, the CI. acutifolia, 
important as a food-plant in the housekeeping of the Chukches, 
and the tender Gl. sarmentosa with its delicate, slightly rose- 
coloured flowers, and, where the ground was stony, long but yet 
flowerless, slightly green tendrils of the favourite plant of our 
homeland, the Linna;a horcccUs. Dr. Kj oilman thus reaped a rich 
harvest of higher plants ; and a fine collection of land and marine 
animals, lichens and algse was also made here. The ground 
consisted of sand in which lay large granite blocks, which we in 
Sweden would call erratic. They appeared however not to have 
been transported hither, but to be lying in sihi, having along with 
the sand probably arisen through the disintegration of the rocks. 

In the sea we found not a few algse and a true littoral 
evertebrate-fauna, poor in species indeed, something which is 
completely absent in the Polar seas proper. As I Avalked along 
the coast I saw five pretty large self-coloured greyish-brown seals 
sunning themselves on stones a short distance from land. They 
belonged to a species which I had never seen in the Polar seas. 
As there was no boat at hand, I forbade the hunters that accom- 



XIV.] ST. LAWEENCE ISLAND. 591 

panied me, though the seals were within range, to test their skill 
as shots upon them. Perhaps they were females of Histriophoca 
fasdata, whose beautifully marked skin (of the male) I had seen 
and described at St. Lawrence Bay. The natives had a few dogs 
but no reindeer, which however might find food on the island in 
thousands. No hayaJcs were in use, but large haydars of the 
same construction as those of the Chukches. 

St. Lawrence Island was discovered during Behring's first 
voyage, but the first who came into contact with the natives was 
Otto von Kotzebue^ (on the 27th June 1816, and the 20th July 
1817). The inhabitants had not before seen any Europeans, and 
they received the foreigners with a friendliness which exposed 
Kotzebue to severe suffering. Of this he gives the following 
account : — 

" So long as the naturalists wandered about on the hills I stayed 
with my acquaintances, who, when they found that I was the 
commander, invited me into their tents. Here a dirty skin was 
spread on the floor, on which I had to sit, and then they came in 
one after the other, embraced me, rubbed their noses hard against 
mine, and finished their caresses by spitting in their hands and 
then stroking me several times over the face. Although these 
proofs of friendship gave me very little pleasure, I. bore all 
patiently ; the only thing I did to lighten their caresses some- 
what was to distribute tobacco leaves. These the natives received 
with great pleasure, but they wished immediately to renew their 
proofs of friendship. Now I betook myself with speed to knives, 
scissors, and beads, and by distributing some succeeded in averting 
a new attack. But a still greater calamity awaited me when in 
order to refresh me bodily they brought forward a wooden tray 
with whale blubber. Nauseous as this food is to a European 
stomach I boldly attacked the dish. This, along with new presents 
which I distributed, impressed the seal on the friendly relation 
between us. After the meal our hosts made arrangements 
for dancing and singing, which was accompanied on a little 
tambourine." ^ 

1 Kotzebue says that he was the first seafarer who visited the is^and. 
This however is incorrect. Billings landed there on the 1st August (21st 
July). 1791. From the vessel some natives was seen and a hayclar which 
was rowed along the coast. The natives however were frightened by some 
gunshots fired as a signal (Sarytchev's Re'ise, ii. p. 91, Sauer, p. 239). 
Billings says that the place where he landed (the south-east point of the 
island) was nearly covered with bones of sea-animals. It would be impor- 
tant to have these thoroughly examined, as it is not impossible that Steller's 
sea-cow (Rhytina) may in former times have occasionally come to this 
coast. At all events important contributions to a knowledge of the species 
of whales in Behring's Straits may be gained here. 

^ Otto von Kotzebue. Entdeckungs-Reise an die Sud-See unci nach der 
Behring-Strasse, 1815-18. Weimar, 1821, i. p. 135; ii. p. 104; iii. pp. 171 
and 178. 



592 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

As von Kotzebue two clays after sailed past the north point of 
the island he met three laydars. In one of them a man stood 
np, held up a little dog and pierced it through with his knife, as 
Kotzebue believed, as a sacrifice to the foreigners.^ 

Since 1817 several exploring expeditions have landed on St. 
Lawrence Island, but always only for a few hours. It is very 
dano-erous to stay long here with a vessel. For there is no 
known haven on the coast of this large island, which is surrounded 
by an open sea. In consequence of the heavy swell which almost 
constantly prevails here, when the surrounding sea is clear of ice, 
it is difficult to land on the island with a boat, and the vessel 
anchored in the open road is constantly exposed to be thrown by 
a storm rising unexpectedly upon the shore cliffs. This held 
good in fullest measure of the Vega's anchorage, and Captain 
Palander was on this account anxious to leave the place as soon 
as possible. On the 2nd August at three o'clock in the afternoon 
we accordingly resumed our voyage. The course was shaped at 
first for Karaginsk Island on the east coast of Kamchatka, where 
it was my intention to stay some days in order to get an oppor- 
tunity of making a comparison between the natural conditions 
ofi, middle Kamchatka and the Chukch Peninsula. But as 
unfavourable winds delayed our passage longer than I had 
calculated on, I abandoned, though unwillingly, the plan of 
landing there. The Commander's Islands became instead the 
nearest goal of the expedition. Here the Vega anchored on the 
14th August in a very indifferent harbour completely open^ to 
the west, north-west, and south, lying on the west side of Behring 
Island, between the main island and a small island lying off it. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The position of Behring Island— Its inhabitants— The discovery o£ the 
island by Behring— Behring' s death— Steller— The former and present 
Fauna on the island : foxes, sea-otters, sea-cows, sea-lions, and sea- 
bears— Collection of bones of the Rhytina— Visit to a "rookery"— 
Toporkoff Island — Alexander Dubovski — Voyage to Yokohama- 
Lightning-stroke. 

Behring Island is situated between 54° 40' and 55° 25' N.L. and 
165° 40' and 166° 40' E.L. from Greenwich. It is the westernmost 
and nearest Kamchatka of the islands in the long chain formed 

1 On the days after our arrival at Pitlekaj several dogs were killed. I 
then believed that this was done because the natives were unwilling to 
feed them during winter, but it is not impossible that they sacrificed^ them 
to avert the misfortunes which it was feared the arrival of the foreigners 
would bring with it. 



XV.] , THE INHABITANTS OF BEHRING ISLAND. 593 

by volcanic action, whicli bounds the Bebring Sea on the south 
between 51° and 56° N.L. Together with the neighbouring 
Copper Island and some small islands and rocks lying round 
about, it forms a peculiar group of islands separated from the 
Aleutian Islands proper, named, after the rank of the great sea- 
farer who perished here, Commander's or Commandirski Islands. 
They belong not to America but to Asia, and are Russian 
territory. Notwithstanding this the American Alaska Company 
has acquired the right of hunting there,^ and maintains on the 
main islands two not inconsiderable commercial stations, which 
supply the inhabitants, several hundreds in number, with pro- 
visions and manufactured goods, the company buying from them 
instead furs, principally the skin of an eared seal (the sea-cat or 
sea-bear), of which from 20,000 to 50,000 ^ are killed yearly in 
the region. Some Russian authorities are also settled on the 
island to guard the rights of the Russian state and maintain 
order. Half a dozen serviceable wooden houses have been built 
here as dwellings for the officials of the Russian Government and 
the American Company, for storehouses, shops, &c. The natives 
live partly in very roomy and in the inside not uncomfortable 
turf houses, partly in small wooden houses which the company 
endeavours gradually to substitute for the former, by yearly 
ordering some wooden buildings and presenting them to the most 
deserving of the population. Every family has its own house. 
There is also a Greek-Catholic church and a spacious schoolhouse. 
The latter is intended for Aleutian children. The school was 
unfortunately closed at the time of our visit, but, to judge by the 
writing books which lay about in the schoolroom, the education 
here is not to be despised. The specimens of writing at least 
were distinguished by their cleanness, and by an even and 
beautiful style. At " the colony " the houses were collected at 
one place into a village, situated near the sea-shore at a suitable 
distance from the fishing ground in a valley overgrown in summer 
by a rich vegetation, but treeless and surrounded by treeless 
rounded heights. From the sea this village has the look of a 

1 In February 1871 the right of hunting on these islands was granted 
by the Russian government to Hutchinson, Kohl, Phih'ppeus & Co., who 
have made over their rights to the Alaska Commercial Company of San 
Francisco. 

2 According to a communication made to me by Mr. Henry W. Elliot, 
who, in order to study the fur-bearing seals in the North Beliring Sea, lived 
a considerable time at the Seal Islands (Pribylov's Islands, &c.) on the 
American side, and has given an exceedingly interesting account of the 
animal life there in his work : A Report upon the Condition of Affairs in the 
Territory of Alaska, Washington, 1875: the statement in my report to 
Dr. Dickson, founded on oral communications of Europeans whom I met 
with at Behring Island, that from 50,000 to 100,000 animals are killed 
yearly at Behring and Copper Island, is thus probably somewhat ex- 
aggerated. 

C2 Q 







►J 2- 



CHAP. XV.] 



BEHEING ISLAND. 



595 



northern lishmg station. There are besides some scattered 
houses here and there on other parts of the island, for instance 
on Its north-eastern side, where the potato is said to be cultivated 
on a small sea e, and at the fishing place on the north side where 
there are two large sheds for skins and a number of very small 
earth-holes used only during the slaughter season " 

Behring Island with regard both to geography and natural 
history IS one of the most remarkable islands in the north part 
of the Pacific. It was here that Behring after his last unfortunate 
voyage m the sea which now bears his name, finished his lono- 
course as an explorer. He was however survived by many o1' 





^^'^jtf'"'^^^^^^^'^*"' ^ 




'f mr T 




THE "colony" on COPPER ISLAND. 

(After a photograph.) 

his followers, among them by the physician and naturalist Steller 
to whom we owe a masterpiece seldom surpassed— a sketch of 
the natural conditions and animal hfe on the island, never before 
visited by man, where he involuntarily passed the time from the 
middle of November 1741, to the end of August 1742.' 

• \?--if """^ accounts of the wintering on Behring Island are to be found 
^"^ ^^lullei s ,Sa?H,mZ«n9 Hussischer GescMchfe, St. Petersburo- 1758 iii 
pp. 228-238 and 242-268; (Steller's) Topograpkische uvd ^>Sls2 
.Beschreibung der Beringsinsel (Pallas' Neue Nordische Beytmqe St Peterc, 
burg and Leipzig 1781-83 ii. p. 225); G. W. Steller's' T^^ft^./^W 
Seerevse aus demPetripaulsRafen . . . und seiner Begehenheiten auf der 
imsT'i p iS-'Tr' 1) '' Beytrage, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 

Q Q 2 



596 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap, xv 

It was the desire to procure for our museums the skins or 
skeletons of the many remarkable mammalia occurring here, also 
to compare the present state of the island which for nearly a 
century and a half has been exposed to the unsparing thirst of 
man for sport and plunder, with Steller's spirited and picturesque 
description, which led me to include a visit ..to the island in the 
plan of the expedition. The accounts I got at Behring Island 
from the American newspapers of the anxiety which our 
wintering had caused in Europe led me indeed to make our 
stay there shorter than I at first intended. Our harvest of 
collections a,nd observations was at all events extraordinarily 
abundant. But before I proceed to give an account of our own 
stay on the island, I must devote a few words to its discovery 
and the first wintering there, which has a quite special interest 
from the island having never before been trodden by the foot of 
man. The abundant animal life, then found there, gives us 
therefore one of the exceedingly few representations we possess 
of the animal world as it was before man, the lord of the creation, 
appeared. 

After Behring' s vessel had drifted about a considerable time 
at random in the Behring Sea, in consequence of the severe 
scurvy-epidemic, which had spread to nearly all the men on 
board, without any dead reckoning being kept, and finally with- 
out sail or helmsman, literally at the mercy of wind and waves, 
those on board on the Y^th November, 1741, sighted land, off whose 
coast the vessel was anchored the following day at 5 o'clock P.M. 
An hour after the cable gave way, and an enormous sea threw 
the vessel towards the shore-cliffs. All appeared to be already 
lost. But the vessel, instead of being driven ashore by new 
waves, came unexpectedly into a basin 4^ fathoms deep sur- 
rounded by rocks and with quite still water, being connected 
with the sea only by a single narrow opening. If the unmanage- 
able vessel had not drifted just to that place it would certainly 
have gone to pieces, and all on board would have perished. 

It was only with great difficulty that the sick crew could put 
out a boat in which Lieut. Waxel and Steller landed. They 
found the land uninhabited, devoid of wood, and uninviting. But 
a rivulet with fresh clear water purled yet unfrozen down the 
mountain sides, and in the sand hills along the coast were found 
some deep pits, which when enlarged and covered with sails 
could be used as dwellings. The men who could still stand on 
their legs all joined in this work. On the yth November the 
sick could be removed to land, but, as often happens, many died 
when they were brought out of the cabin into the fresh air, others 
while they were being carried from the vessel or immediately 
after they came to land. All in whom the scurvy had taken the 
upper hand to that extent that they were already lying in bed 




K ° 



598 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

on board tlie vessel, died. The survivors had scarcely time or 
strength to bury the dead, and found it difficult to protect the 
corpses from the hungry foxes that swarmed on the island and 
had not yet learned to be afraid of man. On the V'th Behring 
was carried on land ; he was already much reduced and dejected, 
and could not be induced to take exercise. He died on the yth 
December. 

Vitus Beheing was a Dane by birth, and when a young 
man had already made voyages to the East and West Indies. 
In 1707 he was received into the Bussian navy as officer, 
and as such took part in all the warlike enterprises of that 
fleet against Sweden. He was in a way buried alive on the 
island that now bears his name, for at last he did ijot 
permit his meii to remove the sand that rolled down upon 
him from the walls of the sand pit in which he rested. For 
he thought that the sand warmed his chilled body. Before 
the corpse could be properly buried it had therefore- to be 
dug out of its bed, a circumstance which appears to have 
produced a disagreeable impression on the survivors. The two 
lieutenants, Waxel and Chitrov, had kept themselves in pretty 
good health at sea, but now fell seriously ill, though they 
recovered. Only the physician of the expedition, Georg 
Wilhelm Steller, was all the tim.e in good health, and that a 
single man of the whole crew escaped with his life was clearly 
due to the skill of this gifted man, to his invincible energy 
and his cheerful and sanguine disposition. These qualities 
were also abundantly tested during the wintering. On the 
night before the l^ l "ovem ber! *^® vessel, on which no watch was 
kept, because all the men were required on land to care for 
the sick, was cast ashore by a violent E.S.E. storm. So great 
a quantity of provisions was thus lost, that the remaining 
stock was not sufficient by itself to yield enough food for all 
the men during a whole winter. Men were therefore sent out 
in all directions to inquire into the state of the land. They 
returned with the information that the vessel had stranded 
not, as was hoped at first, on the mainland but on an un- 
inhabited, woodless island. It was thus clear to the ship- 
wrecked men that in order to be saved they could rely only 
on- their judgment and strength. At the beginning they 
found that if any provisions were to be reserved for the 
voyage home, it was necessary that they should support them- 
selves during winter to a considerable extent by hunting. 
They did not like to use the flesh of the fox for food, and 
at first kept to that of the sea-otter. This animal at present 
is very scarce on Behring Island, but at that time the shore 
was covered with whole herds of it. They had no fear of 
man, came from curiosity straight to the fires, and did not 



XV.] THE SEA-OTTER AND THE SEA-COW. 599 

run away when any one approached. A dear-bought experience, 
however, soon taught them caution ; at all events, from 800 
to 900 head were taken, a splendid catch when v/e consider 
that the skin of this animal at the Chinese frontier fetched 
from 80 to 100 roubles each. Besides, in the beginning of 
winter two whales stranded on the island. The shipwrecked 
men considered these their provision depots, and appear to 
have preferred whale blubber to the flesh of the sea-otter, 
which had an unpleasant taste and was tough as leather.^ 

In spring the sea-otters disappeared, but now there came to 
the island in their stead other animals in large herds, viz. 
sea-bears, seals, and sea-lions. The flesh of the young sea- 
lion was considered a great delicacy.^ When the sea-otters 
became scarcer and more shy and diflicult to catch, the ship- 
wrecked men found means also to kill sea-cows, whose flesh 
Steller considered equal to beef. Several barrels of their flesh 
were even salted to serve as provisions during the return 
journey. As the land became clear of snow in the middle of 
April, Waxel called together the forty-five men who survived 
to a consultation regarding the steps that ought to be taken 
in order to reach the mainland. Among many different proposals, 
that was adopted of building a new vessel with the materials 
supplied by the stranded one. The three ship-carpenters who 
had been on board were dead. But fortunately there was 
among the survivors a Cossack, Sava Staeodubzov, who had 
taken part as a workman in shipbuilding at Okotsk, and 
now undertook to manage the building of the new vessel. 
With necessity for a teacher he also succeeded in executing 
his commission, so that a new St. Feter was launched on the 
^ August, 1742. The vessel was forty feet long, thirteen 
feet beam, and six and a half feet deep, and sailed as well 
as if built by an experienced master of his craft, but on the 
other hand leaked seriously in a high sea. The return voyage 
at all events passed successfully. On the ^'l^sfhlu'^^s" Kamchatka 
was sighted, and two days after the St. Peter anchored at 
Petropaulovsk, where th« shipwrecked men found a store- 
house with an ahundant stock of provisions according to their 

1 According to M.iiller, whose statements (based on communications by 
Waxel ?) often differ from those of Steller. The latter says that the flesh 
of the sea-otter is better than that of the seal, and a good antidote to 
scurvy. The flesh of the young sea-otter might even compete with lamb 
as a delicacy. 

2 To judge by what is stated in Steller's description of Behring Island 
{Neue nord. Beytr., ii. p. 290) no one would have dared to attack " diese 
grimmigen Thiere," and the only sea-lion eaten during the winter was an 
animal wounded at Kamchatka and thrown up dead on the coast of 
Behring Island. Tlie iin-like feet were the most delicate part of the sea- 
lion. 



GOO THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

ideas, which probably were not pitched very high. Next year 
they sailed on with their Behring-Island-built vessel to Okotsk. 
On their arrival there, of the seventy-six persons who originally 
took part in the expedition, thirty-two were dead. At Kam- 
chatka they had all been considered dead, and the effects they 
left behind them had been scattered and divided. Steller 
voluntarily remained some time longer in Kamchatka in order 
to carry on his researches in natural history. Unfortunately 
he drew upon himself the ill-will of the authorities, in consequence 
of the free way in which he criticised their abuses. This led 
to a trial at the court at Irkutsk. He was, indeed, found 
innocent, and obtained permission to travel home, but at Zoli- 
kamsk he was overtaken by an express with orders to bring 
him back to Irkutsk. On the way thither he met another 
express with renewed permission to travel to Europe. But the 
powers of the strong and formerly healthy man were exhausted 
by this hunting backwards and forwards across the immeasur- 
able deserts of Siberia. He died soon after, on the ^ November, 
1746, at Tjumen, only thirty-seven years of age, of a fever 
by which he was attacked during the journey.^ 

The immense quantity of valuable furs brought home by 
the survivors of Behring's so unfortunate third voyage affected 
the fur-dealers, Cossacks, and hunters of Siberia much in the 
same way as the rumour about Eldorado or about the riches of the 
Casic Dobaybe did the Spanish discoverers of middle and southern 
America. Numerous expeditions were fitted out to the new 
land rich in furs, where extensive territories previously unknown 
were made tributary to the Czar of Bussia. Most of these 
expeditions landed on Behring Island during the voyage out 
and home, and in a short time wrought a complete change in the 
fauna of the island. Thanks to Steller's spirited sketch of the 
animal life he observed there, we have also an opportunity of 
forming an idea of the alteration in the fauna which man brings 
about in a land in which he settles. 

Arctic foxes were found in incredible numbers on the island 
during the wintering of the Behring expedition. They not only 

According to MuUer's official report, probably written for the purpose 
of .refuting the rumours regarding Steller's fate current in the scientific 
circles of Europe. According to the biography prefixed to Georg Wilhelm 
SteWer^ s Beschreihu7ig von dem Lande Kamtschatka, herausgegeben von J. 
B. S. (Scheerer), Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1774, Steller had in 1745 begun 
his return to St. Petersburg, and was already beyond Novgorod, when he 
received orders to appear before the court at Irkutsk. After a year he 
obtained permission to travel to St. Petersburg, but when he came to the 
neighbourhood of Moscow, he received a new order to return, and for 
further security he was placed under a guard. They had travelled a good 
way into Siberia, when he froze to death while the guard went into a 
public-house to warm themselves and ouench their thirst. 



XV.] THE FAUNA OF BEHEING ISLAND : FOXES. 601 

ate up everything that was at all eatable tliat was left in the open 
air, but forced their way as well by day as by night into the 
houses and carried off all that they could, even such things 
as were of no use whatever to them, as knives, sticks, sacks, 
shoes and stockings. Even if anything had been never so well 
buried and loaded with stones, they not only found the place 
but even pushed away the stones with their shoulders like men. 
Though they could not eat what they found, they carried it 
off and concealed it under stones. In such a case some foxes 
stood on guard, and if a man approached all assisted in speedily 
concealing the stolen article in the sand so that no trace of it 
was left. When any of the men slept out of doors at night 
the foxes carried off their caps and gloves, and made their way 
under the covering. They nosed the noses of the sleepers to 
find out whether they were dead or living, and attempted to 
nibble at any who held their breatli. As the female sea -lions 
and sea-bears often suffocate their young during sleep, the foxes 
every morning made an inspection of the place where these 
animals lie down in immense herds, and if they found a dead 
young one they immediately helped each other, like good 
scavengers, to carry away the carcase. When men were, employed 
out of doors they had to drive the foxes away with sticks, 
and they became, in consequence of the slyness and cunning 
with which they knew how to carry out their thefts and the 
skill which they showed in combining to gain an end which 
they could not compass as single animals, actually dangerous 
to the shipwrecked men, by whom they were therefore heartily 
hated, pursued, tormented, and killed. Since then thousands 
and thousands of foxes have been killed on Behring Island 
by the fur-hunters. Now they are so scarce that during our 
stay there we did not se« one. Those that still survive, besides, 
as the Europeans settled on the island informed me, do not wear 
the precious dark blue dress formerly common but the white, 
which is of little value. On the neighbouring Copper Island, 
however, there are still dark blue foxes in pretty large numbers.^ 

1 As early as- Sclielecliov' s wintering at 1783-84 the foxes on Behring 
Island were iirincipally white. During Steller's wintering, over a third of 
the foxes on the island had a bluish fur {Neiie nord. Beytr.y ii. p. 277). In 
the year 1747-48 a fur hunter, Cholodilov, caught on Beliring Island 1,481 
blue foxes and 350 sea-otters, and the following year another hunter 
returned with over a thousand sea -otters and two thousand blue foxes, 
which probably were also caug-lit on Behring and Copper Islands {Neue 
Nachrichten von denen neuentdeckten Insuln, Hamburg u. Leipzig, 1766, p. 
20). In the year 1751-53 Jugov caught on the same island 790 sea-otters, 
6,844 black and 200 white foxes, and 2,212 sea-bears {loc. cit. p. 22). In 
1752-53 the crew of a vessel belonging to the Irkutsk merchant, Nikifor 
Trapeznikoff, caught on Behring Island 5 sea-otters, 1,222 foxes (colour 
not stated), and 2,500 sea-bears {loc. cit. p. 32). It thus appears as if the 



602 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Nine hundred sea-otters were killed here by Steller and his 
companions in 1741-42. The following quotation is taken from 
Steller's description of this animal which is now so shy at the 
sight of man : — 

" With respect to playfulness it surpasses every other animal 
that lives either in the sea or on. the land. When it comes up 
out of the sea it shakes the water from its fur, and dresses it as 
a cat its head with its fore-paws, stretches its body, arranges its 
hair, throws its head this way and that, contemplating itself and 
its beautiful fur with evident satisfaction. The animal is so 
much taken up with this dressing of itself, that while thus 
employed it may easily be approached and killed. If one strikes 
a sea-otter twenty times across the back, it bears it patiently, but 
if its large beautiful tail be struck once it turns its head to its 
pursuer, as if to offer it as a mark for his club in place of the 
tail. If it eludes an attack it makes the most laughable gestures 
to the hunter. It looks at him, placing one foot above the head 
as if to protect it from the sunlight, throws itself on its back, and 
turning to its enemy as if in scorn scratches itself on the belly 
and thighs. The male and female are much attached to each 
other, embrace and kiss each other like men. The female is also 
very fond of its young. When attacked .she never leaves it 
in the lurch, and when danger is not near she plays with it in a 
thousand ways, almost like a child-loving mother with her young 
ones, throws it sometimes up in the air and catches it with her 
fore-feet like a ball, swims about with it in her bosom, throws it 
away now and then to let it exercise itself in the art of 
swimming, but takes it to herself with kisses and caresses when 
it is tired," 

According to recent researches the sea-otter, sea-beaver or 
Kamchatka-beaver (Enhydi'is hitris, Lin.) is a species neither of 
the otter nor the beaver, but belongs to a peculiar genus, allied 
to a certain extent to the walrus. Even this animal, un- 
surpassed in the beauty of its skin, has been long since driven 
away not only from Behring Island but also from most of the 
hunting-grounds where it was commonly killed by thousands, and 
if an effective law be not soon put in force to keep the hunting 
in bounds, and ch-eck the war of extermination which greed now 
carries on against it, no longer with clubs and darts but with 
powder and breechloaders, the sea-otter will meet the same fate 
which has already befallen Steller's sea-cow. Of the sea-lion 
{Eumetopias SteUeri, Lesson), which in Steller's time were found 

eager hunting had an influence not only on the number of the animals but 
also on their colour, the variety in greatest demand becoming also relatively 
less common than before. 



XV.] THE SEA-COW. 603 

in abundance on the shore cliffs of Behring Island, there are now- 
only single animals there along with the sea-bears {Otaria 
tor since, Lin.) ; and finally, the most remarkable of all the old 
mammalia of Behring Island, the great sea-cow, is completely 
extinct. 

Sfellers sea-coio {Rhytina Stelhri, Cuvier) in a way took the 
place of the cloven-footed animals among the marine mammalia. 
The sea-cow was of a dark-brown colour, sometimes varied with 
white spots or streaks. The thick leathery skin was covered with 
hair which grew together so as to form an exterior skin, which was 
full of vermin and resembled the bark of an old oak. The full 
gro^vn animal was from twenty-eight to thirty-five English feet 
in length and weighed about ' sixty-seven cwt. The head was 
small in proportion to the large thick body, the neck short, the 
body diminishing rapidly behind. The short fore-leg terminated 
abruptly without fingers or nails, but was overgro^vn with a 
number of short thickly placed brush-hairs ; the hind-leg was 
replaced by a tail-fin resembling a whale's. The animal wanted 
teeth, but was instead provided with two masticating plates, one in 
the gum the other in the under jaw. The udders of the female, 
which abounded in milk, were placed between the fore-limbs. 
The flesh and milk resembled those of horned cattle, indeed in 
Steller's opinion surpassed them. The sea-cows were almost 
constantly employed in pasturing on the sea-weed which grew 
luxuriantly on the coast, moving the head and neck while so 
doing -much in the same way as an ox. While they pastured 
they showed great voracity^ and did not allow themselves to be 
disturbed in the least by the presence of man. One might even 
touch them without their being frightened or disturbed. They 
entertained great attachment to each other, and when one was 
harpooned the others made incredible attempts to rescue it. 

When Steller came to Behring Island, the sea-cows pastured 
along the shore, collected Like cattle into herds. The ship- 
wrecked men, for want of suitable implements, did not hunt 
them at first. It was only after a thoughtless love of slaughter 
had driven all other animals suitable for food far from their 
winter quarters, that they began to devise means to catch the 
sea-cow also. They endeavoured to harpoon the animal with a 
strong iron hook made for the purpose, and then drag it to land . 
The first attempt was made on the ^,^^:^"-' 1742, but it was ua- 

JL 21st May, ' 

successful. It was not until after many renewed attempts that 
they at last succeeded in killing and catching a number of 
animals, and dragging them at high water so near land that they 
Avere dry at ebb. They were so heavy that forty men were 
required to do this ; we may conclude from these particulars that 
the number of sea-cows killed during the first winterino- on 
Behring Island was not very large. For the first one was killed 



604 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEQA. [ouap. 

only six weeks before the shipwrecked men left the island, and 
the hunting thus fell at a time when they could leave the build- 
ing of the vessel to occupy themselves in that way only in case 
of necessity. Besides, only two animals were required to yield 
flesh-food to all the men for the period in question. 

It is remarkable that the sea-cow is so mentioned by later 
travellers only in passing, that this large animal, still hunted by 
Europeans in the time of Linnaeus, would scarcely have been 
registered in the system of the naturalist if Steller had not 
wintered on Behring Island. What Krascheninnikov says of the 
sea-cow is wholly borrowed from Steller, and in the same way 
nearly all the statements of later naturalists as to its occurrence 
and mode of life. That this is actually the case is shown by the 
following abstract, compleU as far as I know, of what is said of 
the sea-cow in the only original account of the -first hunting 
voyages of the Russians to the Aleutian Islands, which was 
published at Hamburg and Leipzig in 177G with the title, Neue 
Nachrichten von denen neueoitdecJcten Insidn in der See zvnschen 
Asien uTid Amerika, aus mitgetkeilten Urhunden und Auszugen 
verf asset von J. L. 8 ^ * (Scherer).^ In this book the sea-cow is 
mentioned at the following places : — 

" Ivan Krassilnikoff's vessel started first in 1754 and arrived 
on the 8th October at Behring Island, where all the vessels fitted 
out for hunting the sea-otter on the remote islands are wont to 
pass the winter, in order to jarovide themselves with a sujSicient 
stock of the flesh of the sea-cow " (loe. cif. p. 38). 

" The autumn storms, or rather the wish to take on board a 
stock of provisions, compelled them (a number of hunters sent 
out by the merchant Tolstyk under command of the Cossack 
Obeuchov) to touch at Conimander''s Island (Behring Island) 
where, during the winter up to the |th June, 1757, they obtained 
nothing else than sea-cows, sea-lions, and large seals. They found 
no sea-otters this year '" {ibid. p. 40). 

1 From this little work, compiled from the original journals (Of. Coxe, 
Russian Discoveries, 1780, p. vi.) we see that the undaunted courage and 
the resolution which, matched with other qualities not so praiseworthy, 
distinguished the PromyscMenni during their expeditions of exploration, 
tribute-collecting, and plunder from the Ob to Kamchatka, did not fail 
them in the attempt to force their way across the sea to America. It 
happens yearlj"- that a ship's crew save themselves from destruction in 
the most extraordinary craft, for necessity has no law. But it is perhaps 
not so common that an exploring expedition, wrecked on an uninhabited 
treeless island, builds for itself of fragments from its own vessel, indeed 
even of driftwood, a new one in order to sail out on the ocean to discover 
new fishing-grounds or new wild tribes, willing to pay " jassak " to the 
adventurers. This however happened very frequently during the Eussian 
voyages of discovery and hunting to the Aleutian Islands from 1745 to 
1770, and it was remarkable that the craft built in this way were used 
for years, even after the return from the first voyage. 



XV.] ACCOUNTS OF THE SEA-COW. 605 

" They (a Russian hunting vessel under Studenzov in 1758) 
landed on Behring Island to kill sea-cows, as all vessels are 
accustomed to do " {ibid. p. 45). 

"After Korovin in 1762 (on Behring Island) had provided 
himself with a sufficient stock of the flesh and hides of the sea- 
cow for his boats .... he sailed on" (ibid. p. 82). 

In 1772 Dmitri Bragin wintered on Behring Island during 
a hunting voyage. In a journal kept at the request of Pallas/the 
large marine animals occurring on the island are enumerated, but 
not a word is said about the sea-cow (Pallas, Keue nordische 
Beytrdge, ii. p. 310). 

ScHELECHOV passed the winter 1783-84 on Behring Island, 
but during the whole time he only succeeded in killing some 
white foxes, and in the narrative of the voyage there is not a 
word about the sea-cow (Grigori Schelechov russisclieih 
Kaufmanns erste und zioeite Beise, &c., St. Petersburg, 1793). 

Some further accounts of the sea-cow have been obtained 
through the mining engineer Pet. Jakovlev, who visited 
Commander's Islands in 1755 in order to investigate the 
occurrence of copper on Copper Island. In the account of this 
voyage which he gave to Pallas there is not indeed one word 
about the sea-cow, but in 1867 Pekarski published in the 
Memoirs of the Petersburg Academy some extracts from 
•Jakovlev' s journal, from which it appears that the sea-cow 
already in his time was driven away from Copper Island. 
Jakovlev on this account on the 27th November, 1755, laid a 
petition before the authorities on Kamchatka, for having the 
hunting of the sea-cow placed under restraint of law and the 
extermination of the animal thus prevented, a thoughtful act 
honourable to its author, which certainly ought to serve as a 
pattern in our times (J. Fr. Brandt, Symbolce Sirenologicce, M4m. 
de VAcad. de St. Pitersbourg, t. xii. No. 1, 1861-68, p. 295). 

In his account of Behring's voyage (1785-94) published in 
1802, Sauer says, p. 181: "Sea-cows were very common on 
Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands,^ when they were first 

1 The sea-cow does not appear to have ever occurred on the Aleutian 
Islands ; on the other hand, according to Steller, dead sea-cows have 
sometimes been cast ashore on Kamchatka, where they even obtained from 
the Russians a peculiar name kapustnik, derived from the large quantity 
of sea-weed found in their stomach. It appears to me that this name, 
specially distinctive of a graminivorous animal, appears to indicate that on 
the first arrival of the Russians at Kamchatka the sea-cow actually visited 
occasionally the coasts of that peninsula. It is probable that in former 
times the sea-cow was to be met with as far south as the north part of 
Japan. Some scientific men have even conjectured that the animal may 
have occurred north of Behring's Straits. This however is improbable. 
Among the mass of subfossil bones of marine animals which we examined 
at Pitlekaj the bones of the sea-cow did not appear to be present. 



606 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xv. 

discovered, but the last was killed on Behring Island in 1768, 
and none has been seen since then." 

On the ground of the writings of which I have given an 
account above, and of various pieces of information collected 
during this century from the Russian authorities in the region, 
by the skilful conservator Wosnessenski, the academicians von 
Baer and Brandt ^ came to the conclusion that the sea-cow 
had scarcely been seen by Europeans before the y th JSTovember, 
1741, when Steller, the day after his landing on Behring Island, 
for the first time saw some strange animals pasturing with 
their heads under water on the shores of the island; and that 
the animal twenty-seven years afterwards, or in 1768, was com- 
pletely exterminated. The latter statement however is un- 
doubtedly incorrect ; for, in the course of the many inquiries I 
made of the natives, I obtained distinct information that living 
sea-cows had been seen much later. A Creole (that is, the 
offspring of a Bussian and an Aleutian), who was sixty-seven 
years of age, of intelligent appearance and in the full possession 
of his mental faculties, stated "that his father died in 1847 at 
the age of eighty-eight. He had come from Volhynia, his 
native place, to Behring Island at the age of eighteen, accordingly 
in 1777. The two or three first years of his stay there, i.e. till 
1779 or 1780, sea-cows were still being killed as they pastured 
on sea-weed. The heart only was eaten, and the hide used for 
haydars? In consequence of its thickness the hide was split 
in two, and the two pieces thus obtained had gone to make a 
haydar twenty feet long, seven and a half feet broad, and three 
feet deep. After that time no sea-cows had been killed." 

There is evidence, ' however, that a sea-cow had been seen 
at the island still later. Two Creoles, Feodor Mertchenin and 
Stepnoff, stated, that about twenty-five years ago at Tolstoj-mys, 
on the east side of the island, they had seen an animal unknown 
to them which was very thick before, but grew smaller behind, 
had small fore-feet, and appeared with a length of about fifteen 
feet above water, now raising itself up, now lowering itself. 
The animal "blew," not through blowholes, but through the 
mouth, which was somewhat drawn out. It was brown in 
colour with some lighter spots. A back fin was wanting, but 
Avhen the animal raised itself it was possible, on account of its 
great leanness, to see its backbone projecting. I instituted a 
through- examination of both my informants. Their __accounts 

1 Von Baer's and Brandt's numerous writings on the sea-cow are to be 
found in the publications of the St. Petersburg Academy. 

- That the hide of the sea-cow was used for haydars is evident from the 
short extract given from Korovin's voyage. On hearing this " Creole's " 
account I inquired Avhether there were not to be found remaining on the 
island any very old sea-cow skins that had been used for haydars, but the 
answer unfortunately was in the negative. 



608 THE VOYAaE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. 

agreed completely, and appeared to have claims to be regarded as 
trustworthy. That the animal which they saw was actually a 
sea-cow, is clearly proved both by the description of the animal's 
form and way of pasturing in the water, and by the account 
of the way in which it breathed, its colour, and leanness. In 
Ausfurliche Besclireibung von sonderharen Meerthieren, Steller 
says, p. 97, " While they pasture, they raise every fourth or fifth 
minute their nose from the water in order to blow out air and 
a little water ; " p. 98, " During winter they are so lean that 
it is possible to count their vertebrae and ribs ; " and p. 54, 
" Some sea-cows have pretty large white spots and streaks, 
so that they have a spotted appearance." As these native? 
had no knowledge of Steller's description of the animal, it 
is impossible that their statement can be false. The death- 
year of the Ehytina race must therefore be altered at least 
to 1854. With reference to this point it may be remarked 
that many circumstances indicate that the E,hytina herds were 
rather driven away from the rich pastures on Behring Island 
than exterminated there, and that the species became extinct 
because in their new haunt they were unable to maintain the 
struggle for existence. The form of the sea-cow, varying from 
that of most recent animals, besides indicates that, like the long- 
tailed duck on Iceland, the dront on Mauritivis, and the large 
ostrich-like birds on New Zealand, it was the last representative 
of an animal group destined to extinction. 

Mr. OscHE, one of the Alaska Company's skin inspectors, a 
native of Liffland and at present settled on Copper Island, in- 
formed me that the bones of the sea-cow also occurred on the 
western side of that island. On the other hand, such bones 
are said not to be found on the small island described farther on 
lying off the colony on Behring Island, although Ehytina bones 
are common on the neighbouring shores of the main island. 

This is the scanty information I have been able to collect 
from the natives and others resident in the quarter regarding 
the animal in question. On the other hand, my endeavours to 
procure Ehytina bones were crowned with greater success, and 
I succeeded in actually bringing together a very large and fine 
collection of skeleton fragments. 

When I first made the acquaintance of Europeans on the 
island, they told me that there was little probability of finding 
anything of value in this respect ; for the company had offered 
150 roubles for a skeleton without success. But before I had 
been many hours on land, I came to know that large or small 
collections of bones were to be found here and there in the huts 
of the natives. These I purchased, intentionally paying for them 
such a price that the seller was more than satisfied and his neigh- 
bours were a little envious. A great part of the male population 



XV.] 



IN SEARCH OF RHYTINA BONES. 



609 



now began to search for bones very eagerly, and in this way I 
collected such a quantity that twenty-one casks, large boxes, or 
barrels were filled with Rhytina bones ; among which were three 
very fine, complete skulls, and others more or less damaged, several 
considerable collections of bones from the same skeleton, &c. 

The Ehytina bones do not lie at the level of the sea, but upon 
a strand-bank thickly overgrown with luxuriant grass, at a height 
of two or three metres above it. They are commonly covered 
with a layer of earth and gravel from thirty to fifty centimetres 
in thickness. In order to find them, as it would be too trouble- 
some to dig the whole of the grassy bank, one must examine 
the ground with a pointed iron rod, a bayonet, or some such 
tool. One soon learns to distinguish, by the resistance and 
nature of the sound, whether the rod stuck into the ground 
has come into contact with a stone, a piece of wood, or a 
fragment of bone. The ribs are used by the natives, on account 
of their hard ivory-like structure, for shoeing the runners of 
the sledges or for carvings. They have accordingly been 





RECONSTRUCTED FORM OP THE SEA-COW. 

After J. Fr. Braudt {Synibolce Sivenologicas, Fasc. iii. 'p. 282). 

already used up on a large scale, and are more uncommon than 
other bones. The finger-bone, which perhaps originally was 
cartilaginous, appears in most cases to be quite destroyed, as 
well as the outermost vertebrae of the tail, I could not obtain 
any such bones, though I specially urged the natives to get 
me the smaller bones too and promised to pay a high price 
for them. 

The only large animal which is still found on Behring Island 
in perhaps as large numbers as in Steller's time is the sea-bear} 

1 The number of these animals killed on Behring Island is shown by the 
following statement given me by Mr. Henry W. Elliot : 



the Year 




In the Year 




In the Year 




1867 ... 


27,500 


1872 ... 


29,318 


1877 .. 


21,532 


1868 ... 


12,000 


1873 .. 


30,396 


1878 .. 


. 31,340 


1869 .. 


24,000 


1874 .. 


31,292 


1879 .. 


. 42,752 


1870 .. 


24,000 


1875 .. 


36,274 


1880 .. 


, 48,504 


1871 .. 


3,614 


1876 .. 


26,960 







During the eighteen years from 1862 to 1880 tliere have thus been shipped 
from Behring Island 389,462 skins. The catch on the Pribylov Islands 



610 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Even it had already diminished so that the year's catch was 
inconsiderable, when in 1871 a single company obtained for 
a payment to the Eussian crown, if I recollect right, of two 
roubles for every animal killed, and exclusive right to the 
hunting, which was accordingly arranged in a more purposelike 
way. At certain times of the year the killing of the sea-bear 
is wholly prohibited. The number of the animals to be killed 
is settled beforehand, quite in the same way as the farmer at 
the time of killing in autumn is wont to do with his herd of 
cattle. Females and young are only killed exceptionally. Even 
the married males, or more correctly the males that can get 
themselves a harem and can defend it, commonly escape being- 
killed, if not for any other reason, because the skin is too often 
torn and tattered and the hair pulled out. It is thus the 
bachelors that have to yield up their skins. 

That a wild animal may be slaughtered in so orderly a 
way, depends on its peculiar mode of life.' For the sea-bears 
are found year after year during summer at certain points 
projecting into the sea (rookeries), where, collected in hundreds 
of thousands, they pass several months without the- least food. 
The males (oxen) come first to the place, most of them in the 
month of May or at the beginning of June. Combats of 
excessive violence, often with a deadly issue for one of the 
parties, now arise regarding the space of about a hundred square 
feet, which each seal-ox considers necessary for its home. The 
strongest and most successful in fight retain the best places 
near the shore ; the weaker have to crawl farther up on land, 
where the expectation of getting a sufficient number of spouses 
is not particularly great. The fighting goes on with many 
feigned attacks and parades. At first the contest concerns the 
proprietorship of the soil. The attacked therefore never follows 
its opponent beyond the area it has once taken up, but haughtily 
lays itself down, when the enemy has retired, in order in the 
arms of sleep to collect forces for a new combat. The animal 
in such a case grunts with satisfaction, throws itself on its back, 
scratches itself with its fore-feet, looks after its toilet, or cools 
itself by slowly fanning with one of its hind-feet, but it is always 
on the alert and ready for a new fight until it is tired out and 
meets its match, and is driven by it farther up from the beach. 

has been still Larger. These ishinds were discovered in 1786, but the 
number of animals killed there is not known for the first ten years ; it is 
only known that it was enormously large. In the years 1797-1880 — that is 
in eighty-four years — over three-and-a-half millions of skins have been 
exported from these islands. In recent years the catch has increased so 
that in each of the years from 1872 to 1880, 99,000 aninuils might have 
been killed without inconvenience. 

J- The traits here given of the sea-bear's mode of life are mainly taken 
from Henry W. Elliot's work quoted above. 



xv.] 



SEA-BEARS. 



Gil 



One of the most peculiar traits of these animals is that 
during their stay on land they unceasingly use their hind-paws 
as fans, and sometimes also as parasols. Such fans may en a 





mm 



fiim 




SEA-BEARS. 

Male, Female, and Young, 
(From a water-colour xiainting by H. W. Elliott.) 

warm day be in motion at the same time by the hundred 
thousand at a " rookery," 

In the middle of June the females come up from the sea , At 
the water's edge they are received in a very accommodating way by 

n 1! 2 



612 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xv. 

some strong oxen that have succeeded in securing for themselves 
places next the shore, and now are bent by fair means or foul 
on annexing the fair for their harem. But scarcely is the 
female that has come up out of the water established with 
seal-ox No. 1, when this ox rushes towards a new beauty 
on the surface of the water. Seal-ox No. 2 now stretches 
out his neck and without ceremony lays hold of No. I's spouse, 
to be afterwards exposed to a repetition of the trick by 
No. 3. In such cases the females are quite passive, never 
fall out with each other, and bear with patience the severe 
wounds they often get when they are pulled about by the 
combatants, now in one direction, now in another. All the 
females are finally distributed in this way after furious combats 
among the males, those of the latter who are nearest the beach 
getting from twelve to fifteen consorts to their share. Those 
that have been compelled ,to settle farther from the shore 
must be content with four or live. Soon after the landing of the 
females they bring forth their young, which are treated with 
great indifference and are protected by the adopted father only 
within the boundaries of the harem. Next comes the pairing 
season, and when it has passed there is an end to the arrange- 
ment and distribution into families at first so strictly main- 
tained. The seal-oxen, rendered lean by three months absolute 
fasting, by degrees leave the " rookery," which is taken possession 
of by the sea-cows, the young, and a number of young males, 
that have not ventured to the place before. In the middle of 
September, when the young have learned to swim, the place is 
quite abandoned, with the exception of single animals that 
have remained behind for one reason or other. In long con- 
tinued heavy rain many of the animals besides seek protection 
in the sea, but return when the rain ceases. Continuous heat 
and sunshine besides exert the same influence ; cold, moist air, 
with mist-concealed sun, on the other hand draw them up on 
land by thousands. 

Males under six years of age cannot, like the older males, 
possess themselves, by fighting, of spouses and a home of their 
own. They therefore collect, along with young females, in herds 
of several thousand to several hundred thousand, on the shores 
between the rookeries proper, some of them close packed next 
the water's edge, others scattered in small flocks a little farther 
from the" shore on the grass, where they by turns play with each 
other with a frolicsomeness like that of young dogs, by turns 
lie down to sleep at a common signal in all conceivable 
positions. 

It is these unfortunate useless bachelors which at the properly 
managed hunting stations yield the contingent for slaughter. 
For this purpose they are driven by the natives from the shore 



1^- -sa-jii 






it 
















la; i^' 










[i« 



C14 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

slowly, about a kilometre an hour, and with frequent rests, to 
the place of slaughter, situated a kilometre or two from the 
shore. Then the females and the young ones are driven away, 
as well as the males whose skins are unserviceable. The rest 
are first stunned with a blow on the head, and afterwards 
stabbed with a knife. 

While the Vega steamed down towards Behring Island we 
met, already far from land, herds of sea-bears, which followed 
the vessel from curiosity for long stretches. Being unacquainted 
with the sea-bear's mode of life, I believed from this circum- 
stance that they had already left their summer haunts, but on 
our arrival at the colony I was informed that this was not the 
case, but that a very great number of animals still remained at 
the rookery on the north-eastern point of the island. Naturally 
one of our first excursions was to this j)lace, situated about 
twenty kilometres from the village. Such a journey cannot now 
be undertaken alone and unattended, because even an involuntary 
want of caution might easily cause miich economic loss to the 
natives, and to the company that owns the right of hunting. 
During the journey we were accordingly accompanied by the 
chief of the village, a black-haired stammering Aleutian, and 
" the Cossack," a young, pleasant, and agreeable fellow, who on 
solemn occasions wore a sabre nearly as long as himself, but 
besides did not in the least correspond to the Cossack type of ^ 
the writers of novels and plays. 

The journey was performed in large sledges drawn by ten 
dogs over snow-free rounded hills and hill-plateaus covered 
with a rather scanty vegetation, and through valleys treeless, 
as the mountains, but adorned with luxuriant vegetation, rich in 
splendid lilies, syngenesia, urabellifera,&c. The journey was some- 
times tedious enough, but we now and then went at a whistlino^ 
rate, especially when the dog-team descended the steep moun- 
tain slopes, or went through the morasses and the clay puddles 
formed in the constantly used way. The driver was bespattered 
from top to toe with a thick layer of mud, an inconvenience 
attending the unusual team, which was foreseen before our 
departure from the colony, in consequence of which our friends 
there urged that, notwithstanding the fine weather, we should 
all take overcoats. The dog-team was kept pretty far from 
the shore in order not to frighten the seals, and then we 
went on foot to the place where the sea-bears were, choosing 
our way so that we had the wind in our faces. We could in 
this way, without disturbing them, come very near the animals, 
which, according to the undoubtedly somewhat exaggerated 
statement made to us on the spot, were collected at the time 
to the number of 200,000, on the promontory and the neigh- 
bouring shores. We obtained permission to creep, accom- 



XV.] 



VISIT TO A " ROOKERY." 



615 



panied by our guide, close to a herd lying a little apart. The 
older animals became at first somewhat uneasy when they 
observed our approach, but they soon settled down completely, 
and we had now the pleasure of beholding a peculiar spectacle. 
We were the only spectators. The scene consisted of a beach 
covered with stones and washed by foaming breakers, the back- 
ground of the immeasurable ocean, and the actors of thousands 
of wonderfully-formed animals. A number of old males lay 
still and motionless, heedless of what was going on around 
them. Others crept clumsily on their small short legs between 




SLAUGHTER OF SEA-BEARS. 

(After a drawing by H. W. Elliott.) 



the stones of the beach, or swam with incredible agility among 
the breakers, played, caressed each other, and quarrelled. At 
one place two old animals fought, uttering a peculiar hissing 
sound, and in such a way as if the attack and defence had 
been carried out in studied attitudes. At another place a 
feigned combat was going on between an old and a young 
animal. It looked as if the latter was being instnicted in the 
art of fighting. Everywhere the small black young ones crept 
constantly backwards and forwards among the old sea-bears, now 
and then bleating like lambs callino- on their mothers. The 



616 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

young ones are often smothered by the old, when the latter, 
frightened in some way, rush out into the sea. After such an 
alarm hundreds of dead young are found on the shore. 

" Only " thirteen thousand animals had been killed that year. 
Their flayed carcases lay heaped on the grass by the shore, 
spreading far and wide a disagreeable smell, which, however, 
had not frightened away their comrades lying on the neighbour- 
ing promontory, because, even among them, a similar smell 
prevailed in consequence of the many animals suffocated or 
killed in fight with their comrades, and left lying on the shore. ^ 
Among this great flock of sea-bears sat enthroned on the top of 
a high stone a single sea-lion, the only one of these animals 
we saw during our voyage. 




^BErtSift^'' 






SEA-BEARS ON THEIR WAY TO THE" "ROOKERIES." 

(After a drawing by H. W. Elliott.) 

For a payment of forty roubles I induced the chief of the 
village to skeletonise four of the half putrefied carcases of the 
sea-bear left lying on the grass ; and I afterwards obtained, by 
the good-will of the Russian authorities, and without any 
payment, six animals, among them two living young, for 
stuffing. Even the latter we were compelled to kill, after 

^ Elliott (Joe. cit. p. 150) remarks that not a single self-dead seal is to be 
found in the '^rookery," where there are so many animals that they pro- 
bably die of old age in thousands. This may he explained by the seals, 
when they become sick, withdrawing to the sea, and forms another con- 
tribution to the question of the finding of self-dead animals to which I 
tave already referred (p. 246). 



XV.] ~ TOPORKOFF ISLAND. 617 

in vain attempting to induce them to take some food. One of 
them was brought home in spirits for anatomical examination. 

The part of Behring Island which we saw forms a high plain 
resting on volcanic rocks/ which, however, is interrupted at 
many places by deep kettle valleys, the bottoms of which are 
generally occupied by lakes which communicate with the sea 
by large or small rivers. The banks of the lakes and the 
slopes of the hills are covered with a luxuriant vegetation, rich 
in long grass and beautiful flowers ; among them an iris culti- 
vated in our gardens, the useful dark reddish-brown Sarana 
lily, several orchids, two species of rhododendron with large 
flowers, umbellifera as high as a man, sunflower-like synanthea, 
&c. Quite another nature prevailed on the island lying off 
the haven, regarding which Dr. Kjellman and Dr. Stuxberg 
make the following statements : — 

" Toporkoff Island is formed of an eruptive rock, which 
everywhere rises along the shore some scores of feet from 
high-water mark, in the form of steep cracked walls from live 
to fifteen metres in height, which is different at different places. 
Above these steep rock-walls the surface of the island forms 
an even plain ; what lies below them forms a gently sloping 
beach. 

" This gently sloping beach consists of two well-marked belts ; 
an outer devoid of all vegetation, an inner overgrown with 
Ammadenia peploides, Elymus mollis, and two species of umbel- 
lifera, Heracleum sihiricum, and Angelica avcliangelico., the two 
last forming an almost impenetrable thicket fifty metres broad 
and as high as a man, along the slope. The steep rock-walls 
are coloured yellow at some places by lichens, mostly Caloplaca 
murorum and Cal. crenulata ; at other places they are covered 
pretty closely with Cochlearia fenestrata. The uppermost level 
plain is covered with a close and luxuriant turf, over which 
single stalks of the two species of umbellifera named above 
raise themselves here and there. The vegetation on this little 
island unites a very uncommon poverty in species with a high 
degree of luxuriance. 

" Of the higher animals we saw only four kinds of birds, viz. 
Fratercula cirrhata, a black guillemot (Uria grylle var. columba), 
a species of cormorant (Phalocrocorax) and a sort of gull 
(Larus). Fratercula cirrhata lived here by millions. They 
haunted the upper plain, where they had everywhere excavated 
short, deep, and uncommonly broad passages to sleep in, provided 

^ According to a statement by Mr. Grehnitski, tertiary fossils and coal 
seams are also to be found on Behring Island, the former nortli of tiie 
colony in the interior, the latter at the beach south of Behring's grave. 
Also in the neighbourhood of the colony the volcanic rock-masses are 
under-stratified by thick sandy beds. 



618 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

with, two openings. From these on our arrival they flew in 
large flocks to the neighbouring sea and back. Their number 
was nearly equal to that of looms in the Arctic loomeries. The 
black guillemots and cormorants kept to the cliffs near the 
shore. 

" The number of the evertebrate land animals amounted to 
about thirty species. The most numerous were Machilis, 
Vitrina, Lithobius, Talitrus, some Diptera and beetles. They 
all lived on the inner belt of the shore, where the ground 
was uncommonly damp." 

Behring Island might without difficulty feed large herds of 
cattle, perhaps as numerous as the herds of sea-cows that 
formerly pastured on its shores. The sea-cow besides had chosen 
its pasture with discrimination, the sea there being, according t(j 
Dr. Kjellman, one of the richest in algas in the world. The 
sea-bottom is covered at favourably situated places by forests of 
seaweed from twenty to thirty metres high, which are so dense 
that the dredge could with difficulty force its way down into 
them, a circumstance which was much against the dredging. 
Certain of the algse are used by the natives as food. 

In the course of our journey to the hunting place we had an 
opportunity, during a rest about halfway between it and the 
village, of taking part in a very peculiar sort of fishing. The 
place where we rested was in an even grassy plain, resembling a 
natural meadow at home, crossed by a large number of small 
rivulets. They abounded in several different kinds of fish, 
among them a Coregonus, a small trout, a middle-sized long 
salmon with almost white flesh, though the colour of its skin 
was a purplish-red, another salmon of about the same length, 
but thick and hump-backed. These fish were easily caught. 
They were taken with the hand, were harpooned with common 
unshod sticks, were stabbed with knives, caught with the insect 
net, &c. Other kinds of salmon with deep red flesh are to be 
found in the large rivers of the island. We obtained here for 
a trifle a welcome change from the preserved provisions of which 
we had long ago become quite tired. The Expedition was also 
presented by the Alaska Company with a fine fat ox, milk, and 
various other provisions, and I cannot sufficiently value the 
goodwill shown to us not only by the Russian official, N. Greb- 
NITSKI, a zealous and skilful naturalist, but also by the officials 
of the Alaska Company and all others living on the island with 
whom we came into contact. 

It was my original intention to sail from Behring Island to 
Petropaulovsk, in order from thence to put a stop to^the" under- 
takings which were possibly in contemplation for our relief. 
This however became unnecessary, because a steamer, which 



XV.] 



ALGA FliOM BEHRING ISLAND. 



GIO 



was to start for Petropaulovsk as soon as its cargo was on board, 
had anchored by the side of the Vega two days after our arrival.' 
The steamer belonged to the Alaska Company, was named 
the Alexander, was commanded by Captain Sandman, and was 
manned almost exclusively by Swedes, Danes, Fins, and 






f-?6^.l#T 




ALGA FROM THE SHORE OF BEHRING ISLAND. 

Thalassiophyllum Clathri.is, Post, and Riipr. 
One-foiuth of the natural size. 

Norwegians.! We found on the Alexander two naturalists. Dr. 

1 The first European who welcomed us after the completion of the 
North-east passage was a Fin now settled in Cahfornia, from Bjorkboda 
works m Kimito parish, in which I had lived a great deal when a youth. 
He was sent by the Alaska Company to do some work on Behring Island! 
As we steamed tOAvards the colony he rowed to meet us, and saluted us with 
the cry " ar det Nordenskiold ? " (" Is it Nordenskiold ? ") His name was 
Itiak Andersson. 



620 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xv. 

Benedikt Dybovski and Dr. Julian Wiemut. The former is 
a Pole exiled to Siberia but now pardoned, whose masterly 
zoological works are among the best contributions which have 
been made during recent decades to our knowledge of the 
natural conditions of Siberia. His researches have hitherto 
mainly concerned the Baikal region. Now he wishes to extend 
them to Kamchatka, and has therefore voluntarily taken a 
physician's post at Petropaulovsk. Science has reason to expect 
very rich results from his work and that of his companions in 
one of the most interesting, most mis-known, and least known 
lands of the north. 

The Vega left Behring Island on the afternoon of the 19th 
August, and anchored at Yokohama on the evening of the 2nd 
September. The first part of the passage, while we were still 
in the cold northerly Polar Sea current, was favoured by fair 
winds and moderate heat. The surface temperature of the sea 
was from +9° to +10°. On the 25th August in 45° 15' N.L. 
and 156° E.L. from Greenwich the temperature of the sea-water 
began to rise so rapidly that the thermometer in 40° Lat. 
and 147° 41' Long, already showed -t-23°'4 at the surface. 
This indicated that we had come from the cold current favour- 
able to us into Kuro-sivo, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific. The 
wind was now at times unfavourable and the heat oppressive, 
notwithstanding the frequent rain showers accompanied by 
lightning and heavy squalls. In such unfavourable weather on 
the 31st August the mainmast of the Vega was struck by 
lightning, the flash and the report being of excessive violence. 
The vane was broken loose and thrown into the sea along with 
some inches of the pole. The pole itself was split pretty far 
down, and all on board felt a more or less violent shaking, the 
man who felt it most standing at the time near the hawse-hole. 
The incident was not attended by any further noteworthy 
unpleasant consequences. 

On our arrival at Yokohama we were all in good health and 
the Vega- in excellent condition, though, after the long voyage, 
in want of some minor repairs, of docking, and possibly of 
coppering. Naturally among thirty men some mild attacks of 
illness could not be avoided in the course of a year, but no 
disease had been generally prevalent, and our state of health had 
constantly been excellent. Of scurvy we had not seen a trace. 



CHAr. XVI.] ARRIVAL AT YOKOHAMA. 621 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Arrival at Yokohama — A Telegram sent to Europe — The stranding of the 
steamer A. E Nordenslcibld — Fetes in Japan — The Minister of Marine, 
Kawamura — Prince Kito-Shira-Kava — Audience of the Mikado — Graves 
of the Shoguns — Imperial Garden at Tokio — The Exhibition there — 
Visit to Enoshima — Japanese manners and customs— Thunberg and 
Kampfer. 

Yokohama, the first harbour, telegraph station, and commercial 
town at which the Vega anchored after circumnavigating the 
north coast of Asia, is one of the Japanese coast cities which 
were opened to the commerce of the world after the treaty 
between the United States of America and Japan negotiated by 
Commodore Perky. ^ At this place there was formerly only 
a little fishing village, whose inhabitants had never seen Europeans 
and were forbidden under severe punishments from entering into 
communication or trading with the crews of the foreign vessels 
that might possibly visit the coast. The former village is 
now, twenty years later, changed into a town of nearly 70,000 
inhabitants, and consists not only of Japanese, but also of very 
fine European houses, shops, hotels, &c. It is also the residence 
of the governor of Kanagava Ken. It is in communication 
by rail with the neighbouring capital Tokio, by regular weekly 
steamship sailings with San Francisco on the one hand, and 
Hong Kong, India, &c., on the other, and finally by telegraph 
not only with the principal cities of Japan but also with all the 
lands that have got entangled in the threads of the world's 
telegraph net. 

The situation of the town on the western shore of the Yedo 
or Tokio Bay, which is perhaps rather large for a haven, is not 
particularly fine. But on sailing in we see in the west, if the 
weather be fine, Fusiyama's snow-clad, incomparably beautiful 
volcanic cone raise itself from a cultivated forest-clad region. 
When one has seen it, he is no longer astonished that the Japanese 
reproduce with such affection on their varnished wares, porcelain, 
cloth, paper, sword-ornaments, &c., the form of their highest, 
stateliest, and also grimmest mountain. For the number of the 
men who have perished by its eruptions is reckoned by hundreds 
of thousands, and if tradition speaks truth the whole mountain 

^ The Dutch had permission in former times to send some vessels 
annually to Nagasaki. By Perry's treaty, signed on the 31st March, 1854, 
Shimoda and Hakodate were opened to the Americans. Finally, by new 
treaties with the United States and various European powers, the liarbours 
Kanagava (Yokohama), Nagasaki, Hakodate, Niigata, Hiogo, and Osaka, 
were assigned for commerce with foreigners. 



G22 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xvi. 

in a far distant antiquity was formed in a single night. Before 
we enter Yedo Bay we pass a volcano, active during last year, 
situated on the volcanic island Oshima, known in JajDanese 
history as the place of exile of several of the heroes in the many 
internal struggles of the country. 

While we sailed, or more correctly, steamed — for we had still 
sufficient coal remaining to permit the engine to be used — up 
the Bay of Yedo, the coasts were for the most part concealed 
with mist, so that the summit of Fusiyama and the contours of 
the shore only now and then gleamed forth from the fog and 
cloud. The wind besides was against us, on which account it was 
9.30 in the evening of the 2nd September before we could 
anchor in the haven that had been longed-for for such a length 
of time. I immediately hastened on land, along with Captain 
Palander, in order to send home a telegram- across Siberia 
about the fortunate issue of the voyage of the Vef/a. At 
the telegraph station I was informed that the Siberian line was 
interrupted by inundations for a space of 600 versts, and that 
the telegram must therefore be sent by India, whereby the cost 
was nearly doubled. The telegraph officials also made difficulties 
about taking the foreign gold coin of various kinds which I had 
about me. Fortunately the latter difficulty was immediatel}^ 
removed by the accidental presence of the Russian consul, Mr. 
Pelikan, while I was treating with the telegraph officials. When 
he heard that it concerned the sending home of a telegram from 
the much-talked-of Vega expedition, he immediately offered to 
arrange the affair until I had time to operate on the letter 
of credit I carried with me from Messrs. James Dickson & Co. 
of Gothenburg. Soon after I met with the Swedish consul, 
Mr. VAN OoRDT, who gave us a large parcel of letters from 
home. It was very gladly received by most of us, as, so for 
as I know, it did not bring the thirty members of the expedition 
a single unexpected sorrowful message. I got, however, soon 
after landing, an unpleasant piece of news, viz. that the steamer 
A. E. Nordenskiold, Avhich Mr. Sibiriakoff had sent to Behring's 
Straits and the Lena to our relief, had stranded on the east coast 
of Yesso. The shipwreck fortunately had not been attended 
with any loss of human life, and the vessel lay stranded on 
-a sandbank in circumstances which made it probable that it 
would be got off without too great cost. 

As the report of our arrival spread, I was immediately waited 
upon by various deputations with addresses of welcome, invitations 
to fetes, clubs, &c. A series of entertainments and festivities 
now began, which occupied a great part of the time we remained 
in this splendid and remarkable country. Perhaps a sketch 
of these festivities may yield a picture of Japan during the state 
of transition which still prevails there, and which in a decade 




iii!iiiiiiJ.;ii;.ii;i;i;:!!iiiii:iiiiiiiii::i:iiiiiiii:i*i!iii!iiiiii);ii;^^^ 



624 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



or two will undoubtedly belong to a past and to a great extent 
forgotten period, a picture which to future writers may possibly 
form a not unwelcome contribution to the knowledge of the 
Japan that now (1879) is. Such a sketch would however 
carry me too far beyond the subject of this narrative of 
travel, and require too much space, on which account I must 
confine myself to an enumeration of the festivities at the head 
of which were public authorities, learned societies, or clubs. 

On the 10th September a grand dinner was given at the Grand 
Hotel, the principal European hotel — and very well kept — of 




THE STEAMER " A. E. NORDENSKTOLD," STRANDED ON THE EAST COAST OF YEZO. 

(After a Japanese photograph.) 

Yokohama, by the Dutch minister, Chevalier VAN Stoetwegen, 
who at the same time represents Sweden and Norway in Japan. 
The members of the Expedition were here introduced to several 
members of the Japanese Government. 

We were invited to a lUjeiCmer a la fourchette, at one o'clock 
P.M. on the 11th September, at the Imperial summer palace 
Hamagoten, by Admiral Kawamuea, minister of marine. At 
this entertainment there were present, besides the scientific men 
and officers of the Vega, and our minister, Herr van Stoetwegen, 
several of the ministers and highest officials of Japan. Some 



XVI.] 



ADMIRAL KAWAMURA'S ENTERTAINMENT. 



G25 



of them spoke one or other of the European languages, others 
only Japanese, in which case officials of lower rank acted as 
interpreters, these however taking no part in the entertainment 
along with the other guests. It was arranged after the European 
pattern, with abundance of dishes and wines. The palace 
consisted of a one-storied wooden house in the Japanese style 
of construction. The rooms, to which we were admitted, were 
provided with European furniture, much the same as we would 
expect to find in the summer residence of a well-to-do family 
in Sweden. It was remarkable that the Japanese did not take 




N V > "i 







r 



KAWAMURA SUMIYOSHI. 

Japanese Minister of Marine. 



the trouble to ornament the room or the table to any consider- 
able extent with the beautiful native bronzes or porcelain, of 
which there is such abundance in the country. The summer 
palace was surrounded by a garden which the Japanese consider 
something very extraordinary, and also on a very large scale. 
We should call it a small, well and originally kept miniature 
park, with carefully dressed turf, wonderful dwarf trees, miniature 
stone bridges, small ponds and waterfalls. The entertainment was 
very pleasant, and all, from our intelligent host to the Premier, 

s s 



626 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Daiyo daiyin, and the Imperial Prince, SilNYO Sanitomi, 
showed us much friendliness. The latter looked a sickly young 
man, some years past twenty. He was, however, much older, 
and had taken a leading part in the most important political 
transactions since the opening of the ports. Our host. Admiral 
Kawamura, had more the appearance of a man of science than 
of a warrior. The modest exterior, however, concealed a great 
and noble man. For Kawamura, as commander of the Mikado's 
troops, had with special distinction brought about the suppression 
of the revolt under the brave Saigo Kichinosuke, who had at the 
restoration of the power of the Mikado been its heart and sword, 
but soon after fell before the government he himself contributed 
to create, and is now, a couple of years after, admired and sung 
by former friends and by former enemies as a national hero. All 
the Japanese present at the ddjeuner were clad in European 
dress — in black dress coat and white tie. Even the interpreters 
and attendants wore the European dress. The people, the lower 
officials, and the servants in private houses are still clothed in 
the Japanese dress, but do not wear a sword, which is now 
prohibited. Many of the people have even exchanged the old 
troublesome Japanese dressing of the hair for the convenient 
European style. 

In the course of conversation after the d^jeiXner the ministers 
offered to do all they could to make our stay in the country 
agreeable and instructive. Distinguished foreigners are always 
well received in Japan, and we are informed that a special 
committee is appointed to make arrangements for their re- 
ception. This has given offence in certain quarters, and 
shortly before our arrival a proclamation was issued by a secret 
society, which threatened, if no change were made, to kill one of 
the ministers and one of the foreigners who were entertained 
in this, in the opinion of the secret society, extravagant way. 
One of my Japanese friends promised me a copy of the pro- 
clamation, but did not keep his promise, probably because it 
was impossible for the uninitiated to get hold of the dangerous 
writing. 

On the 13th September a grand dinner was arranged for us 
by the German Club, the photographer Andersen being chair- 
man. The hall was adorned in a festive manner with flags, 
and with representations of the Vega in various more or less 
dangerous positions among the ice, which had been got up 
for the occasion; the bill of fare had reference to the cir- 
cumstances of our wintering, &c. A number of speeches were 
made ; the feeling was cheerful and merry. 

On the 15th September there was a grand entertainment in 
Tokio, given by the Tokio Geographical Society, the Asiatic 
Society of Japan, and the German Asiatic Society. It was 



XVI.] ' rPJNCE YOHI HISHA. G27 

held in the great hall in Koku-Dai-Gaku, a large stone 
building surrounded with beautiful trees, which were lighted up 
for the occasion by a number of variegated paper lanterns. 
Several Japanese ladies dressed in European style took part 
in the entertainment. I sat by the side of the chairman, 
Prince Kita-Shira-Kava, a young member of the imperial 
house, who had served some time in the German army and 
speaks German very well. During the disturbances which were 
caused by the removal of the residence from Kioto to Yedo 
(Tokio), a group of insurgents had seized the prince, then a 
minor, who under the name of RiNNOJiNO-MiTA was chief 
priest in a temple, and endeavoured to set him up in opposition 
to the Emperor. The plan failed, and in consequence of the 
reconciliation at the end of the conflict, which distinguished in 
so honourable a way the many involved and bloody political 
struggles in Japan during recent years, this adventure was 
attended with no other result for him than that the former 
chief priest was sent to a German military school. He was 
recalled sooner than was intended because he wished to marry 
a European, which was considered below the dignity of the 
family of the Mikado. After his return he was declared nearest 
heir to the throne, in case the Mikado should die without male 
heirs, and his name, Kita-Shira-Kava-NO-Miya, was changed 
a second time to YoHI HiSHA. The former name was at the 
bottom of the speech he made for us at the dinner, and which - 
he gave me, and the latter, with the addition, " Prince of Japan," 
was on his calling card. The dinner was quite European, 
with a large number of speeches, principally in European 
languages, but also in Japanese. Before every guest lay a map, 
of the form of a fan, with the course of the Vega marked upon 
it. As a memorial of the feast I received some days after a 
large medal in silver inlaid in gold, of which a drawing is given 
on pages 628, 629. We were conveyed back to the Tokio 
railway station in European equipages, in the same way as we 
had been brought to the dinner. During dinner musicians 
from the band of the imperial navy played European pieces of 
music with great skill, to the evident satisfaction of the 
Japanese. 

On the forenoon of the 17th September we were presented 
at the court of the Mikado in Tokio by the Swedish-Dutch 
minister. We were fetched from the railway station by imperial 
equipages, consisting of simple but ornamental and conve- 
nient sufleU carriages, each drawn by a pair of beautiful black 
horses of no great size. As is common in Japan, a ]'iinning 
groom, clad in black, accompanied each carriage. The recep- 
tion took place in the imperial palace, a very modest VMooden 
building. The rooms we saw were famished, almost .poorly, in 

s s 2 



628 



THE VOYAGE OE THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



European fashion. We first assembled in an antechamber, the 
only remarkable ornament of which was a large piece of 
nephrite, which was a little carved and had a Chinese inscription 
on it. Here we were met by some of the ministers and the 
interpreter. After a short conversation, in the course of which 
the interpreter got a sight of the written speech, or more 
correctly the words of salutation, I was to speak, we were 
conducted into an inner apartment where the Emperor, clad 




THE FIRSr MBDAl. WHICH WAS STRUCK AS A MEMORIAL OF THE VOYAOE OF THE " VEGA." 

Size of the origiual. 



in a uniform of European style and standing in front of a 
throne, received us. The only thing unusual at our reception 
was that we were requested at our departure not to turn our 
backs to the Emperor, and on entering and departing to 
make three bows, one at the door, another when we had 
come forward a little on the floor, and one at the place 
where we were to stand. After we had been j)i"esented 
the Emperor read a speech in Japanese, which was translated 



XVI.] 



AUDIENCE OF THE MIKADO. 



629 



into French by the interpreter, and of which, before we left 
the place, a beautiful copy was given me. I then read my salu- 
tation, on which our minister, van Stoetwegen, said a few 
words, and got some words in reply. After leaving the 
imperial chamber, we were entertained in the anteroom with 
Jaj^anese tea and cigars. The two princes who had taken 
part in the entertainment of the 15th came and talked a 
little with us, as did the minister of foreign affairs. The 



/■ 



^ 



-^ 









y^L 









Ya4 "y 2^1 i ^ B 



h^ C^ 



/ / 



THE FIBST MEDAL WniCH WAS a'IRUCK AS A MtMOEIAL OF THE VOVAGE OF IHE " VEGA," 

Size of the original. 



Emperor Mutsuhito, in whose name reforms have been 
carried out in Japan to an extent to which history can 
scarcely show anything equal, was born the 3rd November, 
1850. He is considered the 121st Mikado of the race of 
Jimmu Tenno, the members of which have reigned uninter- 
ruptedly in Japan for nearly two thousand years, with varying 
fates and with varying power — now as wise lawgivers and mighty 
warriors, now for long periods as weak and effemina,te rulers. 



630 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

emperors only in seeming, to whom almost divine homage was 
paid, but who were carefully freed from the burden of govern- 
ment and from all actual power. In comparison with this race, 
whose first ancestor lived during the first century after the 
foundation of Rome, all the royal houses now reigning in 
Europe are children of yesterday. Its present representative 
does not look to be very strong. During the whole audience 
he stood so motionless that he might have been taken for a 
wax figure, if he had not himself read his speech. Prince 
Kita-Shira-Kava has the appearance of a young lieutenant of 
hussars. Most of the ministers have sharply marked features,^ 
which remind one of the many furious storms they have sur- 
vived, and the many personal dangers to which they have been 
exposed, partly in honourable conflict, partly through murderers' 
plots. For, unfortunately, a political murder is not yet con- 
sidered in Japan an infamous crime, but the murderer openly 
acknowledges his deed and takes the consequences. Repeated 
murderous attempts have been made against the men of the 
new time. In order to protect themselves from these, ministers, 
when they go out, generally have their carriages surrounded by 
an armed guard on horseback. 

On the 18th September several of the members of the Vega 
expedition were invited to a dejeuner d la fourchette by Admiral 
Kawamura, minister of marine. This entertainment had an in- 
terest for us because we were here for the first time received into 
a Japanese home. I sat at table by the side of Lady Kawamura. 
Even the children were present at the entertainment. Lady 
Kawamura was dressed in the Japanese fashion, tastefully but 
very plainly, if we except a heavy gold chain encircling the 
•waist. In other respects the entertainment was arranged accord- 
ing to the European mode, with a succession of dishes and 
wines, both in abundance, according to the laws of gastronomy. 
When it was over our host offered us an airing in a carriage, 
during which I rode with the lady and one of the children, a 
little girl about ten years of age, who would have been very 
beautiful if she had not been disfigured, in the eyes of Euro- 
peans, by the thick white paint that was evenly spread over her 
whole face, and gave it a sickly appearance. Lady Kawamura 
herself was not painted, nor was she disfigured with blackened 
teeth. Most of the married women of Japan are accustomed 
after marriage to blacken their formerly dazzlingly white teeth ; 
but it is to be hoped that this unpleasant custom will soon 
disappear, as the women of distinction have begun to abandon 

^ At first it strikes a European as if all the Japanese had about the 
s ime appearance, but when one has got accustomed to the colour of the 
s :in and the traits of the race, the features of the Japanese app3ar us 
various in form and expression as tLos3 of Europeans. 



XVI.] JAPANESE GARDENS. 031 

it. During this excursion we visited, among other places, the 
graves of the Tycoons, the imperial garden, and a very 
remarkable exhibition in the capital. 

A number of the Tycoons, or, as they are more correctly 
called, Shoguns, are buried in Tokio. Their place of sepulture 
is one of the most remarkable memorials of Old Japan. The 
graves are in a temple which is divided into several courts, 
surrounded by walls and connected with each other by beautiful 
gates. The first of these courts is ornamented with more than 
two hundred stone lanterns, presented to the temple by the 
feudal princes of the country, the name of the giver and the 
date at which it was given being inscribed on each. Some of 
these peculiar memorials are only half-finished, perhaps an 
evidence of the sudden close of the power of the Shoguns 
and the feudal princes in Japan. In another of the temple 
courts are to be seen lanterns of bronze, partly gilt, presented 
by other feudal princes. A third court is occupied by a temple, 
a splendid memorial of the old Japanese architecture, and of 
the antique method of adorning their sanctuaries with wooden 
carvings, gilding, and varnishing. The temple abounds in old 
book-rolls, bells, drums, beautiful old lacquered articles, &c. 
The graves themselves lie within a separate inclosure. 

The common Japanese gardens are not beautiful according 
to European taste. They are often so small that they might, 
without inconvenience, with trees, grottos, and waterfalls, be 
accommodated in a small State's department in one of the crystal 
palaces of the international exhibitions. All, passages, rocks, 
trees, ponds, yea, even the fishes in the dams, are artificial or 
artificially changed. The trees are, by a special art which has 
been very highly developed in Japan, forced to assume the 
nature of dwarfs, and are besides so pruned that the whole jAsuxt 
has the appearance of a dry stem on which some green clumps 
have been hung up here and there. The form of the gold fish 
swimming in the ponds has also been changed, so that they have 
often two or four tail-fins each, and a number of growths not 
known in their natural state. On the walks thick layers of 
jsebbles are placed to keep the feet from being dirtied, and at the 
doors of dwelling-houses there is nearly always a block of granite 
with a cauldron-like depression excavated in it, which is kept 
filled with clean water. Upon this stone cauldron is placed 
a simple but clean wooden scoop, with which one can take water 
out of the vessel to wash himself with. 

The imperial garden in Tokio is distinguished from these 
miniature gardens by its greater extent, and by the trees, at least 
at most jDlaces, bearing fruit. There is here a veritable park, 
with uncommonly large, splendid, and luxuriantly-growing trees. 
The public is generally excluded from the garden. At our Aisit 



632 



TPIE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



we were entertained in one of the imperial summer-liouses witii 
Japanese tea, sweetmeats, and cigars. 

Last of all we visited the Exhibition. It had been closed for 
some time back on account of cholera. We saw here a number 
of beautiful specimens of Japanese art, from the flint tools and 
pottery of the Stone -Age to the silks, porcelain, and bronzes 
of the present. In no country is there at this day such a 




STONE LANTERN AND STONE MONUMENT. 

In a Japanese Temple Court. 



love for exhibitions as in Japan, There are small exhibitions 
in most of the large towns. Many were exceedingly instructive ; 
in all there were to be seen beautiful lacquered wares, porcelain, 
swords, silk, cloths, &c. In one I saw a collection of the birds and 
fishes of Japan, in another I discovered some vegetable im- 
pressions, by means of which I became acquainted with the 



XVI.] 



AN EXCUESION BY WATEE. 



6H3 
shall 



remarkable locality for fossil plants at Mogi, of which I 
give an account farther on. 

On the evening of the 18th September I was invited by the 
Danish consul, Herr Bavter, to a boat excursion up the river 
which debouches at Tokio. At its mouth it is very broad and 
deep, and it branches somewhat farther up into several streams 
which are navigable by the shallow boats of the Japanese, With 
the present limited development of roads and railways in Japan, 
this river and its tributaries form the most important channels 
of communication between the capital and the interior of the 
country. During our row we constantly met with boats laden 




JAPAMKSE HOUSE IN TOKIO. 



with provisions on their way to, or with goods on their way from, 
the town. The pleasant impression of these and of the remark- 
able environs of the river is sometimes disturbed by a bad odour 
coming from a passing boat, and reminding us of the care with 
which the Japanese remove human excreta, the most important 
manure of their well-cultivated land. Along the banks of the 
river there are numerous restaurants and tea-houses. At long 
intervals we see a garden on the banks, which has belonged to 
some of the former Daimio palaces. The restaurants and tea-houses 
are generally intended only for the Japanese ; and- Europeans, 



634 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

although they pay many times more than the natives, are not 
admitted. The reason of this is to be found in our manners, which 
are coarse and uncultivated in the eyes of the natives. " The 
European walks with his dirty boots on the carpets, sjDits on the 
floor, is uncivil to the girls, &c." Thanks to the letters of intro- 
duction from natives acquainted with the restaurant-keejjers, 
I have been admitted to their exclusive places, and it must 
be admitted that everything there was so clean, neat, and orderly, 
that even the best European restaurants cannot compare with 
them. When a visitor enters a Japanese restaurant which is 
intended exclusively for the Japanese, he must always take 
off his boots at the stair else he gets immediately into disfavour. 
He is received with bended knee by the host and all the 
attendants, male, but principally female ; and then he is almost 
always surrounded by a number of youug girls constantly laugh- 
ing and chattering. These girls have commonly sold themselves 
to the restaurant-keeper for a certain ■ time, during which they 
carry on a life which, according to European standards of morality, 
is not very commendable. When the time fixed in the agree- 
ment has passed, they return to their homes and marry, without 
having sunk in any way in the estimation of their relatives. 
But those are unfortunate who, in any of the towns that are not 
yet opened to foreigners, carry on a love intrigue with a European. 
They are then openly pointed out, even in the newspapers, as 
immoral, and their respectability is helplessly gone. Formerly 
they were even in such cases severely punished. 

All women of the lower classes, and even most of the higher, 
wear the Japanese dress. The more distinguished ladies are 
often exceedingly beautiful, they have in particular beautiful 
necks. Unfortunately they are often disfigured by paint, for 
which the ladies here appear to have a strong liking. The dress 
of the younger women, even among the poor, is carefully 
attended to ; it is not showy but tasteful, and nearly the same 
for all classes. Their manners are very attractive and agreeable. 
The women of the upper classes already begin to take part in 
the social life of the Europeans, and all European gentlemen and 
ladies with whom I have conversed on this point agree in 
stating that there is no difficulty in the way of a Japanese 
woman leaving the narrow circle to which she was formerly 
ctmfined, and entering with pleasure and womanly dignity into 
European society. She appears to be born " a lady." 

On the 20th and 21st September the Governor of Yokohama 
had arranged an excursion for me, Dr. Stuxberg, and Lieut. 
JNordquist, to the sacred island or peninsula Enoshima, situated 
at a short distance from the town. We first travelled some 
English miles along the excellent road Tokaido, one of the few 
highwaj^'s in Japan passable in carriages. Then we travelled 



XVI.] 



JAPANESE WOMEN. 



635 



in jinrikishas to the famous image of Buddha (Daibutsu) at 
Kamakura,^ and visited the Shinto chief priest living in the 
neighbourhood and his temple. 

The priest was fond of antiquities, and had a collection, not 
very large indeed, but composed almost entirely of rarities. 
Among other things he showed us sabres of great value, a 
head ornament consisting of a single piece of nephrite which 
he valued at 500 yen,- a number of old bronzes, mirrors, &c. 




JAPANESE LADY AT HEE TdlLETTE. 



We were received as usual with Japanese tea and sweetmeats. 
The priest himself took us round his temple. No images were 
to be seen here, but the walls were richly carved and ornamented 
with a number of drawings and gildings. The innermost wall 
of the temple was fenced by heavy doors provided with secure 
locks and bolts, within which " the divine spirit dwelt," or 

^ At the close of the twelfth century this now inconsideralile town was 
the residence of Joritomo, the founder of tlie Shogun power, and the 
arran.o-er of the Japanese feudal system. 

- Five yen are about equal to £l sterling. 




I s 



CHAP. XVI.] JAPANESE BEDROOM. G37 

Avithin which " there was nothing else/' as the priest phrased it 
on another occasion. 

Enoshima is a little rocky peninsula, which is connected with 
the mainland by a low, sandy neck of land. Occasionally this 
neck of land has been broken through or overflowed, and the 
peninsula has then been converted into an island. It is con- 
sidered sacred, and is studded with Shinto temj)les. On the side 
of the peninsula next the mainland there is a little village, 
consisting of inns, tea-hou-ses, and shops for pilgrims' and 
tourists' articles, among which are beautiful shells, and the 
fine siliceous skeleton of a sponge, Hyalonema mirahilis, Gray, 
Here I lived for the first time in a Japanese inn of the sort 
to which Europeans in ordinary circumstances are not admitted. 
I was accompanied by two officials from the governor's court at 
Yokohama, and it was on their assurance that I did not belong 
to the common sort of uncultivated and arrosrant foreigners that 
the host made no difficulty in receiving us. 

After we had at our entrance saluted the people of the inn 
and passed some time in the exchange of civilities, there came a 
girl, and, in a kneeling posture, offered the foreigners Japanese 
tea, which is always handed round in very small cups only half 
full. Then we took off our shoes and went into the guest- 
chamber. Such chambers in the Japanese inns are commonly 
large and dazzlingly clean. Furniture is completely wanting, 
but the floor is covered with mats of plaited straw. The walls 
are ornamented with songs suitable for the place, or mottoes, and 
with Japanese paintings. The rooms are separated from each 
other by thin movable panels, which slide in grooves, which can 
be removed or replaced at will. One may, therefore, as once 
happened to me, la}'' himself down to sleejD in a very large room, 
and, if he sleeps sound, awake in the morning in a very small one. 
The room generally looks out on a Japanese garden-in closure, or 
if it is in the upper story, on a small balcony. Immediately 
outside there is always a vessel filled with water and a scoop. 
Generally on one side of the room there is a wall-press, in which 
the bed-clothes are kept. These, the only household articles in 
the room, consist of a thick mat, which is spread on the floor, 
a round cushion for the head, or instead of it a wooden support, 
stuffed on the upper side, for the neck during sleep, and a thick 
stuffed night-shirt which serves as coverins;. 

As soon as one comes in the female attendants distribute four- 
cornered cushions for sitting on, which are placed on the floor 
round a wooden box, on one corner of which stands a little 
brazier, on the other a high clay vessel of uniform breadth, with 
water in the bottom, which serves as a spittoon and tobacco-ash 
cup. At the same time tea is brought in anew, in the small cups 
previously described, with saucers, not of porcelain, but of metal. 



C,h^ 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Pipes are lighted, and a lively conversation commences. Along 
with the tea sweetmeats are brought in, of which, however, some 
cannot be relished by Europeans. The brazier forms the most 
important household article of the Japanese. Braziers are very 
variable in size and shape, but are often made in an exceedingly 
beautiful and tasteful way, of cast-iron or bronze, with gilding 
and raised figures. Often enough, however, they consist only of 
a clay crock. The Japanese are very skilful in keeping up fire 
in them without the least trace of fumes being perceptible in the 
room. The fuel consists of some well-burned pieces of charcoal, 
which lie imbedded in white straw-ashes, with which the fire- 
pan is nearly filled to the brim. When some glowing coals are 



II!!: ,, ii! ,■ y . „ 



IK 

ii'irfi'!' hl,P"i'ii''" 







JAPANESE BEDROOM. 



laid in such ashes they retain their heat for hours, until they are 
completely consumed. In every well-furnished house there are 
a number of braziers of different sizes, and there are often four- 
cornered hatches in the floor, which conceal a stone foundation 
intended as a base for the large brazier, over which the food 
is cooked. 

At meal-times all the dishes are brought in at the same time 
on small lacquered tables, about half a foot high, and with a 
surface of four square feet. The dishes are placed in lacquered 
cups, lers frequently in porcelain cups, and carried to the mouth 
with chop-sticks, without the help of knife, fork, or spoon. 
For fear of the fish-oils, which are used instead of butter, 1 



xvr.]- TOBACCO- SMOKING IN JAPAN. 639 

never dared to test completely the productions of the Japanese art 
of cookery ; but Dr. Almquist and Lieut. Nordquist, who were 
more unprejudiced, said they could put up with them very 
well. The following meniL gives an idea of what a Japanese 
inn of the better class has to offer : — 

Vegetable soup. 

Boiled rice, sometimes with minced fowl. 

Boiled fish or raw fish with horse-radish. 

Vegetables with fish-sauce. 

Tea. 
Soy is used to the fish. The rice is brought in hot in a 
wooden vessel with a lid, and is distributed in abundance, but 
the other dishes in extremely small portions. After meals, 
especially in the evening, the Japanese often drink warm said, 
or rice-brandy, out of peculiar porcelain bottles and small cups 
set apart for that purpose alone. 

During the meal one is commonly surrounded by a numerous 
personnel of female attendants, squatted down on the floor, who 
keep up with the guest, if he understands their language, a 
lively conversation, interrupted by salvoes of hearty laughter. 
The girls remam while the man undresses in the evening, and 
permit themselves to make remarks on the ditference of the 
physique of the Europeans and Japanese, which are not only, 
in our way of thinking, unsuitable for young girls, but even 
impertinent towards the guest. The male attendants are seldom 
seen, at least in the inner apartments. In the morning one 
washes himself in the yard or on the balcony, and if he wishes 
to avoid getting into disfavour, the guest will be careful not to 
spill anything or spit on the mat. 

The Japanese tobacco-pipe now in use resembles that of the 
Chukches, is very small, and is smoked oiit in a couple of whiffs. 
A Japanese smokes without stopping a score of pipes in succes- 
sion. Tobacco-smoking is now very general among high and 
low of both sexes. It was introduced at the close of the sixteenth 
century, it is uncertain whether from Corea or from the Portu- 
guese possessions in Asia, and spread with great rapidity. As 
among us, it here too at first gave occasion to stringent pro- 
hibitions, and a lively exchange of writings for and against. In 
a work by the learned Japanologist, Mr. E. M. Satow (" The 
Introduction of Tobacco into Japan," Transactions of the Asiatic 
Society of Japan, vol. vi. part i. p. 68), the following statements 
among others are made on this subject : — 

"In 1609 there were in the capital two clubs whose maiiL 
delight was to contrive quarrels with peaceful citizens. Upwards 
of fifty of the members of these clubs were suddenly arrested 
and thrown into prison ; but justice was satisfied when four or 



640 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



five of the leaders were executed, the rest were pardoned. As 
these societies were originally smoking clubs, the tobacco-plant 
came by the bad behaviour of their members into disrejDute, and 
its use was prohibited. At that time tobacco was smoked in long 
pipes, which were stuck in the belt like a sword, or carried after 
the -smoker by an attendant. In 1612 a proclamation was 
published in which tobacco-smoking and all trade in tobacco 
were prohibited, under penalty of forfeiture of estate. The 




TOBACCO SMOKERS. 

Jajianese drawing. 



prohibition was repeated several times, with as Httle success 
as in Europe." 

. Mr. Satow further gives the following peculiar extracts 
from a Japanese Avork, which enumerates the advantages and 
disadvantages that are connected with tobacco-smokinff :— - 



"A. — Advantages. 

"1. It dispels the vapours and increases the energies. 
"2. It is good to produce at the beginning of a feast. 



XVI.] ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SMOKING. 641 

" 3. It is a companion in solitude. 

"4. It affords an excuse for resting now and then from 
work, as if in order to take breath. 

"5. It is a storehouse of reflection, and gives time for the 
fumes of wrath to disperse. 

" 5.— Disadvantages. 

"1. There is a natural tendency to hit people over the head 
with one's pipe in a fit of anger.^ 

" 2. The pipe comes sometimes to be used for arranging the 
burning charcoal in the brazier, 

" 3. An inveterate smoker has been known to walk about 
among the dishes with his pipe in his mouth. 

"4. People knock the ashes out of their pipes while still 
alight and forget to extinguish the fire. 

" 5. Hence clothing and mats are frequently scorched by 
burning tobacco ash. - ^ 

" 6. Smokers spit indiscriminately in braziers, foot- warmers 
and kitchen fires. 

" 7. Also in the crevices between the floor-mats. 

" 8. They rap the pipe violently on the edge of the brazier. 

" 9. They forget to have the ash-pot emptied till it is full 
to overflowing. 

"10. They use the ash-pot as nose-paper (i.e. they blow their 
nose into the ash-pot)." 

As during our stay at Enoshima as the governor's guests we were 
constantly attended by two ofiicials from his court, I considered 
it my duty to show myself worthy of the honour by a liberal 
distribution of drink-money. This is not given to the attendants, 
but is handed, wrapped up in paper, and accompanied by some 
choice courteous expressions, to the host himself. He on his 
part makes a polite speech with apologies that all had not 
been so well arranged as his honoured guest had a right to 
expect. He accompanies the traveller on his departure a shorter 
or longer distance in proportion to the amount of drink -money 
and the way in which his guest has behaved. 

It is a specially praiseworthy custom among the Japanese to 
allow the trees in the neighbourhood of the temples to stand 
untouched. Nearly every temple, even the most inconsiderable, 
is therefore surrounded by a little grove, formed of the most 
splendid pines, particularly Cryptomeria and Ginko, which often 

^ The Japanese pipes are now so small that no serious results from tliio 
disadvantage are to he dreaded. In former times the pipes used were long 
and probably heavy. The Dyaks of Borneo still use pipes so heavy that 
they may be used as weapons. 

T T 



642 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



wholly conceal the small, decayed, and ill-kept wooden hut which 
is dedicated to some of the deities of Buddha or Shinto. 

On the 23rd September the Europeans and Japanese of 
Yokohama gave a dinner and ball for us in the hall of the 
EngHsh club. It was beautifully lighted and decorated. Among 
other things there were to be seen on a wall portraits of Berzelius 
and Thunberg, surrounded by garlands of greenery. The latter 
has a high reputation in Japan. His work on the flora of the 




ITO-KESKE. 

A Japanese Editor of Thunberg's writings. 

country has lately been published in a Japanese edition with 
a wood-cut portrait, by no means bad, of the famous Swedish 
naturalist,^ engraved in Japan; and a monument to his and 
Kiimpfer's memory is to be found at Nagasaki, erected there at 
the instance of von Siebold.^ The chairman of the feast was 

1 The work bears the title : Tai-sei-hon-zo-mei-so (short list of European 
plant-names), by Ito-Keske, 1829, 3 vols. 

2 Carl Peter thunberg, born at Jonk oping- in 1743, famed for his travels 
in South Africa, Japan, &c., and for a number of important scientific 



XVI.] 



MONUMENT TO KAEMPFER AND THUNBERG. 



643 



Dr. Geertz, a Dutchman, who had lived a long time in the 
country and pviblished several valuable works on its natural 
productions. 

On the 26th September I started for Tokio, in order thence 
to undertake a journey proposed and arranged by the Danish 
consul, Herr Bavier, to Asamayama, a yet active volcano in the 
interior of the country. Ih consequence of an unexpected 
death among the European consuls at Yokohama, Herr Bavier, 
however, could not join us until the day after that which had 
been fixed for our departure. The 27th accordingly was passed 
in Tokio among other things, in seeing the beautiful collections 





^ r X i-i f N E i- r 

L i.rL rt E [f,TA t TCiLu p 




MONUMENT TO THUNBERG AND KAEMPFER AT NAGASAKI. 



of antiquities made by the attacM of the Austrian legation, 
Herr H. VON Siebold, son of the famous naturalist of the 
same name. Japan has also, like most other lands, had its 
Stone Age, from which remains are found at several places in 

works, finally Professor at Upsala, died in 1828. Engelbert Kampfer, born 
in Westphalia in 1651, was secretary of the embassy that started from 
Sweden to Persia in 1683. Kampfer, however, did not return with the 
embassy, but continued his travels in the southern and eastern parts of 
Asia, among them, even to Japan, which he visited in 1690-92 ; he died in 
1716. Kampfer's and Thunl)erg's works, together with the great work of 
von Siebold, who erected the monument to them, form the most important 
sources of the knowledge of the Japan that once was. 

T T 2 



644 THE VOYA.GE OF THE VEGA. [chat-. 

the country, both on Yezo and on the more southerly islands. 
Implements from this period are now collected assiduously both 
by natives and Europeans, and have been described by H. von 
Siebold in a work a,ccompanied by photographic illustrations. 
In general the implements of the Japanese stone folk have a 
resemblance to the stone tools still in use among the Eskimo, 
and even in this fruitful land the primitive race, as the bone 
remains in the kitchen-middens show, lived at first mainly by 
hunting and fishing. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Excursion to Asamayaina — The Nakasendo road — ^Takasaki^DiflBculty of 
obtaining quarters for the night — The Baths at Ikaho — Massage in 
Japan — ^Swedish matches— Travelling in Kago — Savavatari — Criminals 
— Kusatsu — The Hot Springs and their healing power — Rest at Eoku- 
riga-hara — The summit of Asamaj^ania^ — ^The descent — Journey over 
Usui-toge — Japanese actors — Pictures of Japanese folk-life — Keturn 
to Yokohama. 

On the 28th September, early in the morning, accomjaanied 
by Lieut. Hovgaard, Herr Bavier, an interpreter, and a Japanese 
cook skilled in European cookery, I started on a journey to 
Asamayama. At first we travelled in two very rattling and 
inconvenient carriages, drawn each by a pair of horses, to the 
town Takasaki, situated on the great road " Nakasendo," which 
passes through the interior of the country and connects Tokio 
and Kioto. This road is considered something grand by the 
Japanese. In Sweden it would be called an indifferently kept 
district road. On this road jinrikishas are met in thousands, 
and a great many horses, oxen, and men, leaving heavy burdens, 
but with the exception of the posting carriages, by which, for 
some years back, a regular communication between Tokio and 
Takasaki has been kept up, not a single wheeled vehicle drawn 
by horses or oxen; and though the road passes through an 
unbroken series of populous villages, surrounded by well culti- 
vated rice fields and small gardens, there is not a single work- 
horse or work-ox to be seen. For all the ground in Japan is 
cultivated by the hand, and there are few cattle. 

Most of the roads in the country consist of foot-paths, so 
narrow that two laden horses can pass each other only with 
difficulty. Goods are therefore carried, where there is no canal 
or river, for the most part by men. The plains are extraordin- 
arily well cultivated, and we must specially admire the industry 
with which water-courses have been cut and the uneven slopes 
changed into level terraces. 



XVII.] ABUNDANCE OF CHILDREN IN JAPAN. 645 

The post-horses on ISTakasendo were so poor and wretched 
that in Sweden one would have been liable to punishment for 
cruelty to animals for using them. They went, however, at a 
pretty good speed. There were places for changing horses 
at regular distances of fifteen to twenty kilometres. The 
driver besides halted often on the way at some dwelling-house 
to take a couple of scoopfuls of water out of the water-vessel 
standing before it and throw them into the horses' mouths and 
between their hind-legs. The opportunity was always taken 
advantage of by the girls of the house to come out and offer 
the travellers a small cup of Japanese tea, an act of courtesy 
that was repaid with some friendly words and a copper coin. 

When we visited any of the peasants' gardens by the way- 
side we were always received with extreme friendliness, either on 
a special dais in the common room looking to the road, or in an 
inner room whose floor was covered with a mat of dazzling white- 
ness, and on whose walls hung pictures, with songs and mottoes. 
The brazier was brought forward, tea and sweetmeats were 
handed round, all with lively conversation and frequent bows. 
The difference between the palace of the rich (if we may dis- 
tinguish with the name any building in Japan) and the dwelling 
of the less well-to-do is much smaller here than in Europe. 
We did not see any beggars in our journey into the interior of 
the country.^ Nor did the distinction of class appear to be 
so sharp as might be expected in a land where the evils of rank 
had been so great as in Old Japan. We several times saw in 
the inns by the roadside, people of condition who were travelling 
in jmrikishas eat their rice and drink their said together with 
the coolies who were drawing their vehicles. 

To judge by the crowds of children who swarmed everywhere 
along the roads the people must be very prolific. A girl of 
eight or ten years of age was seldom to be seen without 
another young one bound on her back. This burden did not 
appear to trouble the sister or attendant very much. Without 
giving herself any concern about the child or thinking of its 
existence, she took part actively in games, ran errands, &c. 

Even in the interior of the country foreigners are received 
with great friendliness. The lower classes in Japan have also 
reason for this, for whatever influence the latest political 
changes may have had on the old huge, claimio, and samurai 
families of Japan, the position of the cultivator of the soil is novv^ 
much more secure than before, when he was harried by hundreds 
of small tyrants. His dress is the same as before, with the ex- 
ception, however, that a great proportion of the male population, 
even far into the interior, have laid aside the old troublesome way 

^ On the contrary, we saw a number of beggars on the country roads in 
the neighbourhood of Yokohama. 



646 . THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

of collecting the hair in a knot over a close shaven spot on the 
crown of the head. Instead, they wear their thick raven-black 
hair cut short in the European style. How distinctive of the 
new period this change is may be seen from the eagerness with 
which the Japanese authorities questioned Golovin about the 
religious and political revolutions which they assumed to have 
been connected with the change in the European mode of 
wearing the hair during the commencement of the nineteenth 
century ; for the Russian ambassador Laxman, who was highly 
esteemed by the Japanese, had worn a pig-tail and powdered 
hair, while Golovin and his companions had their hair un- 
powdered and cut short.^ When it is warm the workmen 
wear only a small, generally light-blue, girdle round the waist 
and between the legs. Otherwise they are naked. They are 
thus seen to be in many cases strongly tattooed over the greater 
part of the body. I have not seen the women working naked. 
They perhaps do so at the warmest season of the year. At 
least they do not refrain from undressing completely while 
bathing right in the midst of a crowd of men known and un- 
known, a state of things which at first, in consequence of the 
power of prejudice, shocks the European, but to which even the 
former prude gets accustomed sooner than one would suppose. 
We even frequently see European ladies drawn in o, jinrikisha by 
a youth completely naked with the exception of the blue girdle. 
Many, especially of the younger men, have besides so well- 
formed a body, that the sculptor who could accurately reproduce 
it in marble would at once attain a reputation co-extensive with 
the globe. 

Takasaki is the residence of a governor, with a population 
of about 20,000 ; but, like most of the towns of Japan, it differs 
little from many of the villages we passed through. We arrived 
late in the evening, and there had our first and last experience 
of an inconvenience of which Europeans often complain in travel- 
ling in Japan, and to which they have themselves given occasion 
by the offensive way in which they not unfrequently behave. 
We knocked at the door of one inn after another without being 
received. At one place " the house was full," at another " the 
rooms were under repair," at a third " the inn people were out," 
&c. At last we had to apply to the police. When we had 
shown them our passport, we succeeded with their help in 
getting a night's lodging with an elderly host, who received us 

^ Voyage de M. Golovin, Paris, 1818, i. p. 176. Golovin, who was cap- 
tain in the Russian navy, passed the years 1811-13 in imprisonment in 
Japan. He and his comrades in misfortune were received with great 
friendliness- by the people, and very well treated by the authorities, if we 
except the exceedingly tedious examinations to which they were subjected 
to extract from them the most minute particulars regarding Europe, ar.d 
particularly Russia. 



XVII.]' FIRES. 647 

with a countenance which clearly indicated that he would rather 
have hewn us in pieces with one of the two swords he had 
formerly as samurai been entitled to wear, than received us 
under his roof. After our entrance he still turned to the police 
official with the cry of lamentation : " Must I then actually 
receive these barbarians ? " But we had our revenge in a noble 
way. We took off our boots before we entered the room, were so 
profuse with talk, civilities, and bows, and on the whole behaved 
in such a courteous fashion, that our previously distracted host 
not only bade us welcome back, but also gave us a letter of 
introduction to the innkeepers at an inn where we were to stay 
next, declaring that if we showed this letter we need not fear 
any such disagreeable adventure as that just described. 

Most of the houses in the Japanese towns are built of pretty 
thin, carefully joined timbers. But besides these there are to be 
seen here and there small houses with very thick walls, windows 
provided with heavy iron gratings, and doors that could be 
fastened with large locks and bolts. These houses are fire- 
resisting, and are used as storehouses for valuables and household 
articles when there is danger of fire. Fires are so common in 
Japan that it is supposed that a tenth part of every town is 
burned down yearly. The fireman corps is numerous, well 
ordered from old times, its members bold and daring. During 
our stay overnight at Takasaki we were lodged in such a fire- 
proof house, in very large clean apartments with the floor partly 
covered with carpets after the European pattern. The walls 
were very thick and of brick ; the interior fittings and stairs on 
the other hand of wood. 

I have just mentioned that we were compelled to resort to the 
police in order to obtain quarters for the night. Policemen are 
numerous in Japan, both in town and country. For the most 
part they are taken from the former samurai class. They are 
clothed in the European style ; and walk, with a long stick in a 
certain position under the arm, quietly and calmly on the streets 
and roads, without, except in cases of necessity, making any 
show of their authority. Commonly they are, or appear to be, 
young, and all have a gentlemanlike appearance. In a word, they 
appear to be equal to the best European police of the present 
day, and stand immeasurably above the guardian of the peace, or 
rather the raiser of dispeace, as he appeared some decades ago on 
the European continent. During the latest revolt the police 
were employed by the Government as infantry, and elicited 
general admiration by the fire, the gallantry ,fand the contempt of 
death with which they went into action with their old favourite 
weapon, the Japanese sword. 

A passport is still required for travelling in the interior of the 
country, but this is easily obtained at the request of the consul 



648 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

if healtli or the wish to prosecute researches be given as the 
reason, it being possible perhaps to include common love of 
travelling under the latter head. Commercial travelling is not 
yet permitted in the interior, nor is the right of settling for the pur- 
pose of carrying on business granted to Europeans. The foreign 
ambassadors have often entered into negotiations in order to bring 
about a change on this point, but hitherto without success, be- 
cause the Government, as a condition for the complete openmg 
of the country, require the abrogation of the unreasonable " extra- 
territorial" arrangement which is in force, and by which the 
foreigner is not subject to the common laws and courts of Japan, 
but to the laws of his own country, administered by consular 
courts. An alteration in this point may however be brought 
about in a short time, as Japan will soon be sufficiently powerful 
to be able to abrogate all the injurious paragraphs in her treaties 
with the civilised countries of Europe. Now, besides, the 
ambassadors of the foreign powers, who in former times all acted 
together, have divided into two parties, of which one — Russia 
and America — wishes, or at least feigns to wish, gradually to free 
Japan from all tutelage and to place it on an equality with other 
civilised countries ; the other again — England, Germany, Holland, 
and France — wishes still to retain the guardianship, which 
was established by violence, and confirmed by treaty several 
years ago. 

Shortly before our arrival a quarrel took place between Japan 
and the European powers about, as the Japanese themselves said, 
a breach of international law, which caused much irritation in 
the country. A German vessel coming from Nagasaki, where 
the cholera was raging, on the advice of the German minister 
broke the quarantine prescribed by the Government, and without 
liirther precautions discharged her cargo in the harbour of 
Yokohama. That the cholera in this town was thereby made worse 
is indeed not only unproved but also undoubtedly incorrect, 
though many Japanese in their irritation positively affirmed that 
this was the case ; but the words that were uttered by Japan's 
feted guest, ex-President General Grant,^ that the Japanese 
Government had the right without more ado to sink the vessel, 
have left a memory in the minds both of the Government and of 
the people, which may in the future lead them to a perhaps 
unwise but fully justified exertion of their strength were such 
a deed to be repeated. 

The first impression of the Japanese, both men and women, 
is exceedingly pleasant, but many Europeans who have lived 
a considerable time in the country say that this impression is not 
maintained, a circumstance which in my belief depends more on 

^ General Grant, as is well known, visited Japan in the autumn of 1879. 
He left Yokohama the day after the Vega anchored in its harbour. 



XVII.] JAPAN AND THE FOEEIGN POWERS. 649 

the Europeans themselves than on the Japanese. For the 
European merchants are said not to find it so easy to cut gold 
here with a case-knife as before, and the ambassadors of the 
Great Powers find it day by day more difficult to maintain their 
old commanding standpoint towards a government which knows 
that a great future is before the country, if inconsiderate ambi- 
tion or unlooked-for misfortune do not unexpectedly hinder its 
development. Another reproach, that the Japanese can imitate 
what another has done, but is unable himself to invent -anything 
new, appears on the other hand to be justified in the meantime. 
But it is unreasonable to demand that a nation should not only 
in a few decades pass through a development for which centuries 
have been required in Europe, but also immediately reach the 
summit of the knowledge of our time so as to be at the same 
time creative. , But it would be wonderful, if the natural science, 
literature, and art of the nineteenth century, transplanted among 
a gifted people, with a culture so peculiar and so pervasive, and 
with an art-sense so developed as those of Japan, did not in 
time produce new, splendid, and unexpected fruit. The same 
irresistible necessity which now drives the Japanese to learn all 
that the European and the American know, will, when he has 
reached that goal, spur him on to go further up the Nile river 
of research. 

A short distance beyond Takasaki the road to the volcano to 
which we were on our way, was no longer along Nakasendo, and 
we could therefore no longer continue our journey in carriages 
drawn by horses, but were compelled to content ourselves with 
jinrikishas. In these, on the 29th of September,' we traversed 
in five and a half hours the very hilly road to Ikaho, noted for 
its baths, situated at a height of 700 metres above the sea. 
The landscape here assumes a quite different stamp. The road 
which before ran over an unbroken plain, thickly peopled, and 
cultivated like a garden, now begins to pass between steep un- 
cultivated hills, overgrown with tall, uncut, withered grass, 
separated by valleys in which run purling rivulets, nearly con- 
cealed by exceedingly luxuriant bushy thickets. [Ikaho is 
celebrated for the warm, or more correctly hot, springs which 
well up from the volcanic hills which surround the little town, 
which is beautifully situated on a slope. As at the baths of 
Europe, invalids seek here a remedy for their ailments, and the 
town therefore consists almost exclusively of hotels, baths, and 
shops for the visitors. The baths are situated, partly in large 
open wooden sheds, where men and women bathe together 
without distinction, partly in private houses. In every bath 
there is a basin one metre in depth, to which a constant stream 
of water is conducted from some of the hot springs. The spring 
water has of course cooled very much before it is ,used, but is 



650 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

still so hot notwithstanding that I could only with difficulty 
remain in it a couple of seconds. 

In the streets of the town we often met blind persons who 
walked about very safely without any attendant, only feeling 
their way with a long bamboo. They blew a short pipe now 
and then to warn passers-by of their presence. I thought 
at first that these unfortunates were trying to regain the sight 
of the eye at the hot springs, but on inquiring whether the 
water was beneficial in that respect, I was informed that they 
were not there as seekers after health, but as " massageurs " 
(shampooers). Massage has been in use in Japan for several 
centuries back, and therefore persons are often to be met with 
in the streets offering their services as massageurs, crying in 
the streets in about the same way as the fruit-sellers in Russia. 

The inn where we lodged for the night, consisted as usual of 
a number of very clean rooms covered with mats, without 
furniture, but ornamented with songs and mottoes on the walls. 
One would live here exceedingly well, if like the Japanese he 
could manage to live wholly on the floor and conform carefully 
to the indispensable rules, an observance which besides is 
necessary, because otherwise the inmate is exposed to a very 
unfriendly reception not only from his host but also from the 
attendants. An inconvenience in travelling in Japan is the 
difficulty a European has in accustoming himself to the dietary 
of the Japanese. Bread they do not use, nor meat, but their 
food consists mainly of rice and fish, with fowls, fruit, mush- 
rooms, sweetmeats, Japanese tea, &c., in addition. Fish is 
generally eaten raw, and in that case is said to differ little in 
taste from our pickled salmon. The food is not unfrequently 
cooked with fish oils of anything but an agreeable taste. If a 
traveller wishes to avoid this dietary, he must have his own 
cook with him on the journey. In this capacity there attended 
us a Japanese, whose name was Senkiti-San, but who was 
commonly called by his companions Kok-San (Mr. Cook). He 
had learned European (French) cooking at Yokohama, and 
during the journey devoted himself with so great zeal to his 
calling, that even in the deserts at the foot of Asamayama he 
gave himself no rest until he could offer us a dinner of five 
dishes, consisting of chicken soup, fowl omelette, fowl-beefsteak, 
fowl fricass6, and omelette aux confitures, all thus consisting only 
of fowls and hens' eggs, cooked in different ways. 

For some years back lucifer matches have been an article of 
necessity in Japan, and it was pleasing to us Swedes to observe 
that the Swedish matches have here a distinct preference over 
those of other countries. In nearly every little shop, even in the 
interior of the country, are to be seen the well-known boxes with 
the inscription " Sakerhets tandstickor utan svafvel och fosfor." 



XVII.] JOUENEY IN KAGO. 651 

But if we examine the boxes more carefully, we find upon many 
of them, along with the magic sentence unintelligible to 
the Japanese, an inscription indicating that they have been 
made by some Japanese manufacturer. On other boxes this is 
completely wanting, but the falsification is shown by an un- 
fortunate error in the inscription. It thus appears that the 
Swedish matches are not only introduced into Japan on a large 
scale, but are also counterfeited, being made with the Swedish 
inscription on the box and with a cover resembling that used at 
home. The imitation, however, is not nearly so good as the 
original, and my Japanese servant bade me therefore, when I 
purchased a box of matches, observe carefully that I got one 
of the right (Swedish) sort. 

Photography also has spread so rapidly in the country that at 
many places in small towns and villages in the interior Japanese 
photographers are to be met with who put out of their hands by 
no means bad work. The Japanese appear to have a great 
liking for having their by no means remarkable dwellings photo- 
graphed. On several occasions, when we left a place we received 
from our host as a parting gift a photograph of his house or inn. 
Perhaps this was done with the same view as that which induces 
his European brother-in-trade to advertise at great expense. 

Between Ikaho and Savavatari, our next resting-place, the 
road was so bad that the jinrikisha could no longer be used, we 
accordingly had to use the kago, a Japanese sedan-chair made of 
bamboo, of the appearance of which the accompanying wood- 
cut gives an idea. It is exceedingly inconvenient for Europeans, 
because they cannot like the Japanese sit with their legs cross- 
wise under them, and in course of time it becomes tiresome 
to let them dangle without other support by the side of the 
kago. Even for the bearers this sedan chair strikes me as being 
of inconvenient construction, which is shown among other things 
by their halting an instant every two hundred, or in going up a 
hill, every hundred paces, in order to shift the shoulder under the 
bamboo pole. We went up-hill and down-hill with considerable 
speed however, so that we traversed the road between Ikaho 
and Savavatari, 6 ri, or 23"6 kilometres in length, in ten hours. 
The road, which was exceedingly beautiful, ran along flowery 
banks of rivulets, overgrown with luxuriant bamboo thickets, 
and many different kinds of broad-leaved trees. Only round 
the old temples, mostly small and inconsiderable, were to be 
seen ancient tall Gryptomeria and Ginko trees. The burying 
places were commonly situated, not as at home, in the neigh- 
bourhood of the larger temples, but near the villages. They 
were not inclosed, but marked out by stone monuments from a 
third of a metre to half a metre in height, on one side of which 
an image of Buddha was sometimes sculptured., The recent 



652 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



graves were often adorned with flowers, and at some of them 
small foot-high Shinto shrines had been made of wooden pins. 

Savavatari, like Ikaho, is built on the slope of a hill. The 
streets between the houses are almost all stairs or steep ascents. 
Here too there well up from the volcanic rocks acidulous 
springs, at which invalids seek to regain health. The watering- 
place, however, is of less repute than Ikaho or Kusatsu. 

While we walked about the village in the evening we saw 
at one place a crowd of people. This was occasioned by a 
competition going on there. Two young men, who wore no 
other clothes than a narrow girdle going round the waist and 
between the legs, wrestled within a circle two or three metres 
across drawn on a sandy area. He was considered the victor 
who threw the other to the ground or forced him beyond the 




JAPANESE KAGO. 



circle. A special judge decided in doubtful cases. The be- 
ginning of the contest was most peculiar, the combatants 
kneeling in the middle of the circle and sharply eying each 
other in order to make the attack at a signal given by the judo-e, 
when a single push might at once make an end of the contest. 
In this competition there took part about a dozen young men, 
all well grown, who in their turn stepped with some encouraging 
cries or gestures into the circle in order to test their powers. 
The spectators consisted of old men and women, and boys and 
girls of all ages. Most of them were clean and well-dressed, and 
had a very attractive appearance. 

Here it was the youth of the village themselves that took 
part in the contest. But there are also in Japan persons who 



XVIT.] 



JAPANESE WRESTLERS. 



653 



carry on these games as their occupation, and exhibit themselves 
for money. They are in general very fat, as appears from the 
accompanying drawing, which represents the beginning of the 
contest, when both the combatants are still watching to get 
a good hold. 

JSText day, the 1st October, we continued our journey to 
Kusatsu. The road was uphill for a distance of 550 metres. 




JAPANESE WRESTLEES. 



downhill for nearly as far, then up again, and ran often without 
any protecting fence past deep abysses, or over high bridges of 
the most dangerous construction. It was, therefore, impossible 
for any wheeled vehicle to traverse ft, so that we had to use in 
some cases Icagos, in others riding-horses. Unfortunately the 
Japanese high saddle does not suit the European, and if the 
traveller prefers a riding-horse to a Imgo, he must, if he does not 



654 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap, XVII. 



carry a saddle with him, determine to ride on an unsaddled 
horse, which, with the wretched steeds that are only available 
here, soon becomes so unpleasant that he at last prefers to let 
his legs hang benumed from the hago. A peculiarity in Japan 
is that the rider seldom himself guides his horse. It is com- 
monly led by a halter by a groom running alongside the rider. 
These grooms are very light-footed and enduring, so that even at 
a rapid pace they are not left behind. Eunning footmen also 
attend the carriages of people of distinction in the towns and the 




JAPANESE BRIDGE. 

After a Japanese drawing. 



mail-coaches on ISTakasendo. When there is a crowd before the 
carriage they jump down and drive away the people by a 
dreadful shouting. From the mail-coach they also blow the 
post-horn, not just to the advantage of the ear-drums of the 
travellers. 

The scenery by the roadside was exceedingly beautiful. Now 
it consisted of wild valleys, filled with luxuriant vegetation 
which completely concealed the crystal-clear streams purling in 
the bottoms ; now of level grassy plains or hill-slopes, thickly 




JAPANESE MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE. 



656 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



studded witli solitary trees, chiefly chestnuts and oaks. The 
inhabitants were fully occupied with the chestnut harvest. 
Before every hut mats were spread out, on which chestnuts 
lay drying in thick layers. Grain and cotton were being dried 
in the same small way, as it appeared to us Europeans. On the 
plains there stood besides in the neighbourhood of the cabins 
large mortars, by which the grain was reduced to groats. On 
the hills these tramp-stamps are partly replaced by sm all mills 
of an exceedingly simple construction, introduced by the Dutch. 
We passed the 2nd October at Kusatsu, the Aix-la-Chapelle 
of Japan, famed like that place for its hot sulphurous springs. 
Innumerable invalids here seek an alleviation of their pains. 




INN AT KUSATSU. 



The town lives upon them, and accordingly consists mainly of 
baths, inns, and shops for the visitors. 

The inns are of the sort common in Japan, spacious, airy 
clean, without furniture, but with good braziers, miniatui'e 
tea-services, clean matting, screens ornamented with poetical 
mottoes, which even when translated were almost unintelligible to 
us, friendly hosts, and numerous female attendants. If the 
traveller brings his own cook with him, as we did, he can live 
very comfortably, as I have before stated, at such an inn. 

The hot springs which have conferred on Kusatsu its im- 
portance rise at the foot of a pretty high hill of volcanic origin. 
The rocks in the surrounding country consist exclusively of lava 



:cvn] THE HOT SPEINGS AND THEIE HEALING POWERS. G57 

and volcanic tuffs, and a short distance from the town there is an 
extinct volcano in whose crater there are layers of sulphur.^ In 
the^ immediate neighbourhood of the place where the main 
spring rises there is a thick solidified lava stream, surrounded 
by tuffs, which near the surface is cleft into a number of large 
vesicular blocks. From this point the hot water is conducted 
in long open wooden channels to the bath-house of the town, 
and to several evaporating pools, some by the wayside, others in 
the town, intended for collecting the solid constituents of the 
water, which are then sold in the country as medicine. The 
great evaporation from these pools, from the open channels and the 
hot baths, wraps the town almost constantly in a cloud of watery 
vapour, while a very strong odour of sulphuretted hydrogen 
reminds us that this is one of the constituents of the healing 
waters. 

The _ road between the wells and the town appears to form 
the principal promenade of the place. Along this are to be 
seen innumerable small monuments, from a half to a whole 
metre in height, consisting of pieces of lava heaped upon each 
other. These miniature memorials form by their littleness a 
peculiar contrast to the lauta stones ^rAjdUkast of our Swedish 
forefathers, and are one of the many instances of the people's 
fondness for the little and the neat, which are often to be met 
in Japan. They are said to be erected by visitors as thank- 
offerings to some of the deities of Buddha or Shinto. 

I received from a Japanese physician the following information 
regarding the wells at Kusatsu and their healing power. In 
and near the town there are twenty-two wells, with water of 
about the same quality, but of different uses in the healing 
of various diseases. In the hottest well the water where it 
rises has a temperature of 162° F. (= 72-2° C). The largest 
number of the sick who seek health at the baths, suffer from 
syphilis. This disease is now cured according to the European 
method, with mercury, iodide of potassium, and baths. The 
cure requires a hundred days ; from seventy to eighty per cent, of 
the patients are cured completely, though purple spots remain 
on the skin. The disease does not break out anew. A large 
number of leprous patients also visit the baths. The leprosy is of 
various kinds ; that with sores is alleviated by the baths, and is 
cured possibly in two years ; that without sores but with the skin 
insensible is incurable, but is also checked by frequent bathing. 
All true lepers come from the coast provinces, A similar disease 
is produced also among the hills by the eating of tainted fish 
and fowl. This disease consists in the skin becoming insensible, 
the nerves inactive, and the patient, who otherwise feels well, 

^ According to the statement of the inhabitants ; I had not t;nie to visit 
the place. 

U U 



658 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiAr. 

finding it impossible to walk. It is also cured completely in 
very severe cases, by baths, ammonia applied inwardly, castor-oil, 
Peruvian bark, &c. A third type of this ailment is the bone- 
disease, hak'kii, which is exceedingly common in Japan, and is 
believed to be caused by unvarying food and want of exercise. 
It is very obstinate, but is often cured in two or three years 
with chloride of iron, albumen, change of diet from the common 
Japanese to the European, with red. wine, milk, bread, vegetables, 
&c. This disease begins with a swelling in the legs, then the 
skin becomes insensible, first on the legs, next on the stomach, 
the face, and the wrists. Then the swelling falls, fever comes on, 
and death takes place. There are besides, certain wells for 
curing rheumatism, for which from two to three years are 
required ; for eye-diseases and for headache, the latter playing an 
important part among the illnesses that are cured atKusatsu. 
It principally attacks women between twenty and thirty years 
of age. One of the Kusatsu wells acts very beneficially in 
this case. Its water is conducted to a special bathing-shed 
open to the street, intended exclusively for the men and 
women who suffer from this disease. 

Many of the baths at Kusatsu are taken so hot that special 
precautions must be adopted before one steps down into the 
water. These consist in winding cotton cloths round those parts 
of the body which are most sensitive, and in causing the body to 
perspire strongly before the bath is taken, which is done by the 
bathers with cries and shouts and with certain movements 
stirring the water in the basin with large heavy boards. They 
then all step down into the bath and up again simultaneously at 
a sign given by the physician sitting at the back of the bathing 
shed. Without this arrangement it would perhaps be difiicult 
to get the patients to go into the bath, for agreeable it could not 
be, to judge from the grave faces of the bathers and the fire-red 
colour of their bodies when they come out. 

The baths are under open sheds. Men and women all bathe 
in common, and in presence of both male and female spectators. 
They make their remarks without reserve on the diseases of the 
patients, even if they are of that sort about which one would 
not speak willingly even to his physician. Often the bath-basin 
" is not fenced off in any way, except that it is protected from 
rain and sunshine by a roof resting on four posts. In such cases 
the bathers dress and undress in the street. 

In consequence of the situation of Kusatsu at a height of 
1050 metres above the sea, the winter there is very cold and 
windy. The town is then abandoned not only by the visitors to 
the baths, but also by most of the other inhabitants. _ Already, 
at the time of our visit, the number of bathers remaining was 
only inconsiderable. Even these were preparing to dei)art. 



XVII.] 



ON THE EOAD TO ASAMAYAMA. 



659 



During the second night that we passed at Kusatsu, our night's 
rest was disturbed by a loud noise from the next room. It was 
a visitor who was to leave the place the following morning, and 
who now celebrated his recovery with saki (rice-brandyT and 
string music. 

The environs of Kusatsu are nearly uncultivated, though the 
vegetation is exceedingly luxuriant. It consists partly of bam- 
boo thickets, partly of a high rich grass, above which rise solitary 
pmes, mixed with a few oaks or chestnuts. 

On the 3rd October we continued our journey to the foot of 
Asamayama. The road was very bad, so that even the Icago 
bearers had difficulty in getting along. It first ran across two 




BATH AT KUSATSU. 



valleys more than 300 feet deep, occupied with close, luxuriant, 
bushy thickets. We then came to an elevated plain of great 
extent covered with unmown grass, studded with beautiful oaks 
and chestnuts. The plain was not turned to any account, though 
thousands of the industrious population could find an abundant 
living there by tending cattle. Farther up the oaks and chest- 
nuts were mixed with a few birches, resembling those at home, 
and we came next to complete deserts, where the ground consisted 
of lava blocks and lava gravel, scarcely covered by any orass, 
and yielding nourishment only to solitary pines. This continued 
to the place— Rokuriga-hara— where we were to pass the night, 

u u 2 



660 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

and from which the next day we were to ascend the summit of 
Asamayama. 

Rokuriga-hara is situated at a height of 1270 metres above 
the sea. There was no inn here, nor any place inhabited all the 
year round, but only a large open shed. This was divided into 
two by a passage in the middle. We settled on one side of this, 
making our bed as well as we could on the raised floor, and pro- 
tecting ourselves from the night air with coverings which our 
thoughtful host at Kusatsu had lent us. On the other side of 
the passage our kago bearers and guide passed the night crowd- 
ing round a log fire made on a stone foundation in the middle 
of the floor. The kago bearers were protected from the very 
perceptible night cold only by thin cotton blouses. In order to 
warm them I ordered an abundant distribution of saki, a piece 
of generosity that did not cost very much, but which clearly won 
me the undivided admiration of all the coolies. They passed 
the greater part of the night without sleep, with song and jest, 
with their saki bottles and tobacco pipes. We slept well and 
warmly after partaking of an abundant supper of fowl and eggs, 
cooked in different ways by Kok-San with his usual talent and 
his usual variety of dishes. 

We had been informed that at this place we would hear a 
constant noise from the neighbouring volcano, and that hurtful 
gases (probably carbonic acid) sometimes accumulated in such 
quantities in the neighbouring woods that men and horses would 
be suffocated if they spent the night there. We listened in vain 
for the noise, and did not observe any trace of such gases. All 
was as peaceful as if the glowing hearth in the interior of the 
earth was hundreds of miles away. But we did not require the 
evidence of the column of smoke which was seen to rise from 
the mountain top, which formed the goal of our visit, or of 
the inhabitants who survived the latest eruption, to come 
to the conclusion that we were in the neighbourhood of an 
enormous, still active volcano. Ever3rwhere round our resting- 
place lay heaps of small pieces of lava which had been thrown 
out of the volcano (so-called lapilli), and which had not yet had 
time to weather sufficiently to serve as an under-stratum for 
any vegetation, and a little from the hut there was a solidified 
■,lava stream of great depth. 

Next day, the 4th October, we ascended the summit of the 
mountain. At first we travelled in kago over a valley filled 
with pretty close wood, then the journey was continued on foot 
up the steep volcanic cone, covered with small lava blocks and 
lapilli. The way was staked out with small heaps of stones 
raised at a distance of about 100 metres apart. Near the crater 
we found at one of these cairns a little Shinto shrine, built of 
sticks. Its sides were only half a metre in length. Our guide 



xvn.] ASCENT OF ASAMAYAMA. 6G1 

performed his devotions here. One of them had already at a 
stone cairn situated farther down with great seriousness made 
some conjurations with reference to my promise to make an extra 
distribution of red wine, if we got good weather at the top. 

As on Vesuvius, we can also on Asamayama distinguish a 
large exterior crater, originating from some old eruption, but 
now almost completely filled up by a new volcanic cone, at 
whose top the present crater opens. This crater has a cir- 
cumference of about two kilometres ; the old crater, or what 
the old geologists called the elevation-crater, has been much 
larger. The volcano is still active. For it constantly throws 
out " smoke," consisting of watery vapour, sulphurous acid, and 
probably also carbonic acid. Occasionally a perceptible smell 
of sulphuretted hydrogen is observed. It is possible without 
difficulty to crawl to the edge of the crater and glance down 
into its interior. It is very deep. The walls are perpendicular 
and at the bottom of the abyss there are to be seen several 
clefts from which vapours arise. In the same way " smoke " 
forces its way at some places at the edge of the crater through 
small imperceptible cracks in the mountain. Both on the 
border of the crater, on its sides and its bottom there is to be 
seen a yellow efflorescence, which at the places which I got at 
to examine it consisted of sulphur. The edge of the crater is 
solid rock, a little-weathered augiteandesite differing very much in 
its nature at different places. The same or similar rocks also pro- 
ject at several places at the old border of the crater, but the 
whole surface of the volcanic cone besides consists of small loose 
pieces of lava, without any trace of vegetation. Only at one 
place the brim of the old crater is covered with an open pine 
wood. The volcano has also small side craters, from which 
gases escape. The same coarse fantasy, which still prevails in 
the form of the hell-dogma among several of the world's most 
cultured peoples, has placed the home of those of the followers 
of Buddha who are doomed to eternal punishment in the 
glowing hearths in the interior of the mountain, to which these 
crater-openings lead ; and that the heresies of the well-meaning 
Bishop Lindblom have not become generally prevalent in Japan 
is shown among other things by this, that many of these open- 
ings are said to be entrances to the "children's hell," Neither 
at the main crater nor at any of the side craters can any true 
lava streams be seen. Evidently the only things thrown out 
from them have been gases, volcanic ashes, and lapilli. On the 
other hand, extensive eruptions of lava have taken place at 
several points on the side of the mountain, though these places 
are now covered with volcanic ashes. 

After having eaten our breakfast in a cleft so close to the 
smoking crater that the empty bottles could be thrown directly 



662 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xvii. 

into the bottomless deej)s, we commenced our return journey. 
At first we took the same way as during the ascent, but after- 
wards held off to the right, down a much steeper and more 
difficult path than we had traversed before. The mountain side 
had here a slope of nearly forty-five degrees, and consisted of a 
quite loose volcanic sand, not bound together by any vegetable 
carpet. It would therefore have been scarcely possible to ascend 
to the summit of the mountain this way, but we went rapidly 
downwards, often at a dizzy speed, but without other incon- 
venience than that one now and then fell flat and rolled head- 
foremost down the steep slopes, and that our shoes were completely 
torn to tatters by the angular lava gravel. Above the mountain- 
top the sky was clear of clouds, but between it and the surface 
of the earth there spread out a thick layer of cloud which seen 
from above resembled a boundless storm-tossed sea, full of 
foaming breakers. The extensive view we would- otherwise have 
had of the neighbouring mountain ridges from the top of Asa- 
mayama was thus concealed. Only here and there an opening 
was formed in the cloud, resembling a sun-spot, through which 
we got a glimpse of the underlying landscape. When we came 
to the foot of the mountain we long followed a ridge, covered 
with greenery, formed of an immense stream of lava, which had 
issued from an opening in the mountain side now refilled. This 
had probably taken place during the tremendous eruption of 
1783, when not only enormous lava-streams destroyed forests and 
villages at the foot of the mountain, but the whole of the neigh- 
bouring region between Oiwake and Usui-toge, previously fertile, 
was changed by an ash-rain into an extensive waste. Across 
this large plain, infertile and little cultivated, situated at a 
height of 980 metres above the sea, we went without a guide 
to the village Oiwake, where we lodged for the night at an inn 
by the side of the road Nakasendo, one of the cleanest and best 
kept of the many well-kej)t inns I saw during our journey in 
the interior of the country. 

Hence I sent a messenger on foot to Takasaki to order a 
carriage to Tokio, A former samurai undertook for a payment 
of three yen (about 12s,) to carry the message, Oiwake is indeed 
situated on the great road Nakasendo, but it can here only with 
difficulty be traversed by carriages, because between this village 
and Takasaki it is necessary to go over the pass Usui-toge, where 
the road, though lowered considerably of late, rises to a height 
of 1200 metres. We therefore here used jinriJdshas, a mode of 
conveyance very agreeable to tourists, which, though introduced 
only recently, has already spread to all parts of the country. 

Every one with an open eye for the beauties of nature and 
interest in the life and manners of a foreign jDeople, must find a 
journey in a, jinrikisha over Usui-toge pleasant in a high degree. 



p 




JAPANIiSE LANDSCArE. 



68 1 THE VOYAGE OP THE VEGA. [chap. 

The landscape here is extraordinarily beautiful, perhaps un- 
matched in the whole world. The road has been made here 
with great difficulty between wild, black, rocky masses, along 
deep clefts, whose sides are often covered with the most luxuriant 
vegetation. No fence protects the jinrikisha in its rapid progress 
down the mountains from the bottomless abysses by the wayside. 
A man must therefore not be weak in the nerves if he is to derive 
pleasure from the journey. He must rely on the coolie's keen 
eye and sure foot. On all sides one is surrounded by a confused 
mass of lofty shattered mountain tops, and deep down in the 
valleys mountain stream-S rush along, whose crystal-clear water 
is collected here and there into small lakes confined between 
heights covered with greenery. Now the traveller passes a 
dizzy abyss by a bridge of the most defective construction, now 
he sees a stream of water rushing down from an enormous 
height by the wayside. Thousands of foot-passengers, crowds of 
pilgrims, long rows of coolies, oxen and horses bearing heavy 
burdens meet the traveller, who during frequent rests at the 
foot of the steep slopes has an opportunity of studying the 
variegated life of the people. He is always surrounded by 
cheerful and friendly faces, and the pleasant impression is never 
disturbed by the expressions of coarseness in speech and 
behaviour which so often meet us in Europe. 

It is not until the traveller has passed the mountain ridge 
and descended to a height of only 300 metres above the sea 
that the road becomes passable for a carriage. While we ex- 
changed, not without regret, our clean, elegant jinrilcishas for 
two inferior vehicles drawn by horses, I saw two men wandering 
from shop to shop, standing some moments at each place, ringing 
a bell and passing on when they were not attended to. On my 
inquiry as to what sort of people they were, I was informed 
that they were wandering players. For me of course they did 
not ring in vain. For a payment of fifty cents they were ready 
immediately to show in the street itself a specimen of their art. 
One of them put on a well-made mask, representing the head 
of a monster, with a movable jaw and terrible teeth. To the 
mask was fastened a cloak, in which the player wrapt himself 
during the representation. He then with great skill and supple 
tasteful gestures, which would have honoured a European 
danseube, represented the monster now creeping forward fawn- 
mgly, now rushing along to devour its prey. A numerous crowd 
of children collected around us. The small folks followed the 
representation with great glee, and gave life to the play, or 
rather formed its proper background, by the feigned terror with 
Avhich they fled when the monster approached with open mouth 
and rolling eyes, and the eagerness with which they again 
followed and mocked it when its back was turned. 



XVII.] 



THE JAPANESE THEATRE. 



665 



In few countries are dramatic representations of all kinds so 
much thought of as in Japan. Playhouses are found even in 
small towns. The play is much frequented, and though the 
representations last the whole day, they are followed by the 
spectators with the liveliest interest. There are playbills as at 
home, and numerous writings on subjects relating to the theatre. 
Among the Japanese books which I bought, there was for 
instance a thick one, with innumerable woodcuts, devoted to 
showing how the first Japanese artists conceived the princi- 
pal scenes in their roles, two volumes of playbills bound up 
together, &c. 




BURDEN-BEARERS ON A JAPANESE ROAD. 

Japanese drawing. 



The Japanese pieces indeed strike a European as childish and 
monstrous, but one must admire many praiseworthy traits in 
the play itself, for instance the naturalness with which the 
players often declaim monologues lasting for a quarter or half 
an hour. The extravagances which here shock us are perhaps 
on the whole not more absurd than the scenes of the opera of 
to-day, or the buskins, masks, and peculiar dresses, which the 
Greeks considered indispensable in the exhibition of their great 
dramatic masterpieces. When the Japanese have been able to 
appropriate what is good in European culture, the dramatic art 
ought to have a grand future before it among them, if the 



666 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

development now going on is carried out cautiously so that the 
peculiarities of the people are not too much effaced. For, in 
many departments, and not least in that of art, there is much to 
be found here which when properly developed will form a new 
and important addition to the culture of the West, of which we 
are so proud. 

The large Japanese theatres, besides, often resemble the 
European ones, in their interior arrangement. The partition 
between the stage and the space occupied by the spectators is 
the same as among us. Between the acts the former is con- 
cealed by a curtain. The stage is besides provided with painted 
scenes representing houses, woods, hills, &c., supported on 
wheels, so that a complete change of scene can be effected in 
a few moments. The music has the same place between the 
stage and the spectators as at home. The latter, as at home, are 
distributed partly in a gently rising amphitheatre, partly in 
several tiers of boxes rising one above another, the lowest tier 
being considered the principal one. The Japanese do not sit 
in the same way as we do. Neither the amphitheatre nor the 
boxes accordingly are provided with chairs or benches, but are 
divided into square compartments one or two feet deep, each in- 
tended for about four persons. They sit on cushions, squatting 
cross-legged in the common Japanese fashion. The compart- 
ments are divided by broad cross beams, which form the passages 
by which the spectators get to their places. During the play 
we saw attendants running about with tea, saki, tobacco pipes, 
and small braziers. For every one smokes during the acts, and 
places himself in his crib as comfortably as possible. The piece 
is followed with great attention, favourite actors and favourite 
passages being saluted with lively applause. Even women and 
children visit the theatre, and I have seen the former give their 
children suck without the least discomposure among thousands 
of spectators. Besides the plays intended for the public, there 
are given also a number of other dramatic representations, as 
society plays, peculiar family plays intended for the homes of the 
old feudal princes, spectacles got up for the Mikado, and some 
which have a half religious significance, &c. 

On the evening of the 5th October we came to Takasaki, 
prepared to start immediately for Tokio. But though the 
messenger we sent had duly executed his commission, horses 
could not be procured before midni<j;ht. We passed the evening 
with our former host^ who at our first visit received us so un- 
willingly, but now with great friendliness. We would easily 
have reconciled ourselves to the delay, for a Japanese small 
town such as Takasaki has much worth seeing to offer a 
European, but a great part of the time was wasted in fruit- 
less attempts to get the horse-hirer to let us have the horses 



XVII.] TOILET OF JAPANESE GIRLS. 6G7 

a few hours earlier. In spending time in long conversations 
mixed with civilities and bows the Japanese are masters. Of 
this bad habit, which still often makes the European desperate, 
it will not perhaps be long necessary to complain, for everything 
indicates that the Japanese too will soon be carried along at the 
endlessly roaring speed of the Steam Age. 

When we had at last got horses we continued our journey, first 
in a carriage to Tokio, then by rail to Yokohama, arriving there 
on the afternoon of the 6th O-ctober. From this journey I shall 
only relate an incident which may form a little picture throwing 
light on life in Japan, 

While we halted for a short time in the morning of the 6 th 
October at a large inn by the roadside, we . saw half a dozen 
young girls finishing their toilets in the inn-yard. In passing 
we may say, that a Japanese peasant girl, like girls in general, 
may be pretty or the reverse, but that she generally is, what 
cannot always be said of the peasant girls at home, cleanly and 
of attractive manners. They washed themselves at the stream 
of water in the inn-yard, smoothed their artistically dressed hair, 
which, however, had been but little disturbed by the cushions on 
which they had slept, and brushed their dazzlingly white teeth. 
Soap is not used for washing, but a cotton bag fiiled with bran. 
The teeth were brushed with a wooden pin, oub end of which 
was changed by beating into a brush-like collection of wooden 
cords. The tooth-powder consisted of finely powdered shells and 
corals, and was kept in small, neat wooden boxes, which, along 
with tooth-brushes and small square bundles of a very strong 
and cheap paper, all clearly intended for the use of the peasants, 
were sold for a trifle in most of the innumerable shops along 
the road. For such stupid regulations as in former times in 
Europe rendered traffic in the country difficult, and often obliged 
the countryman to betake himself to the nearest town to buy 
some horse-shoes or a roll of wire, appear not to be found in 
Japan, on which account most of the peasants living on a 
country road seek a subsidiary way of making a living by 
trafficking in small articles in recLuest among the country people. 
Incidents of the sort referred to we had seen so many times 
before that on this occasion it would not have attracted any 
further attention on our part, if we had not thereby been 
reminded that we must look after our own exterior, before we 
could make our entrance into the capital of Jaj)an. We there- 
fore took from the carriage our basket with linen, shaving- 
implements, and towels, settled down around the stream of 
water at which the girls stood, and immediately began to 
wash and shave ourselves. There was now general excitement. 
The girls ceased to go on with their own toilet, and croAvded 
round us in a ring m order to see how Europeans behave in 



668 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

such cases, and to give us the assistance that might be required. 
Some ran laughing and busthng about, one on the top of another, 
in order immediately to procure us what we wanted, one held 
the mirror, another the shaving-brush, a third the soap, &c. 
Round them gathered other elder women, whose blackened 
teeth indicated that they were married. A little farther off 
stood men of all ages. Chance had here quite unexpectedly 
shown us a picture from folk-life of the most agreeable kind. This 
pleasant temper continued while w6 immediately after, in the 
presence of all, ate our breakfast in the porch of the ground- 
floor, surrounded by our former ministering spirits, now kneeling 
around us, continually bowing the head to the ground, laughing 
and chattering. The same fun went on when a little after 
I bought some living fresh-water fishes and put them in spirit, 
yet with the difference that the girls now, with some cries, to 
show their fear of handling the living animals — though fish- 
cleaning was one of their ordinary occupations — handed over to 
the men the trouble of taking the fishes and putting them into 
the spirit-jars. For a worm placed in spirit they feigned the 
greatest terror, notwithstanding its covering of spirit and 
glass, and ran shrieking away when any one suddenly brought 
the jar with the v/orm near their faces. It ought to be noted 
to the honour of the Japanese, that although we were by no 
means surrounded by any select circle, there was not heard 
during the whole time a single offensive word among the 
closely-packed spectators, a fact which gives us an idea of the 
excellent tone of society which prevails here, even among 
the lowest of the population, and which shows that the 
Japanese, although they have much to learn from the Euro- 
peans, ought not to imitate them in all. In Japan there is much 
that is good, old, and national to take note of, perhaps more 
than the Japanese at present have any idea of, and undoubtedly 
more than many of the European residents will allow. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Farewell dinner at Yokohama- — The Chinese in Japan — Voyage to Kobe — 
Purchase of Japanese Books — Journey by rail to Kioto — Biwa Lake 
' and the Legend of its Origin — Dredging there — Japanese Dancing- 
Girls — Kioto — The Imperial Palace — Temples — Swords and Sword- 
bearers — Shintoism and Buddhism — The Porcelain Manufacture — 
Japanese Poetry — Feast in a Buddhist Temple — Sailing across the 
Inland Sea of Japan — Landing at Hirosami and Shimonoseki — Nagasaki 
— Excursion to Mogi — Collection of Fossil Plants — Departure from 
Japan. 

The last days at Yokohama were taken up with farewell visits 
there and at Tokio. An afternoon's leisure during the last day 



xviTi.] THE CHINESE IN JAPAN. 6G9 

I spent in the capital of Japan I employed in making an ex- 
cursion in order to dredge from a Japanese boat in the river 
debouching at the town. The Japanese boats differ from the 
European in being propelled not by rowing but by sculling. 
They have usually a deck above the level of the water, which 
is dazzlingly white and laid with matting, like the rooms in a 
Japanese house. The dredging yielded a great number of 
Anodonta, large Paludina, and some small shells. 

During our stay in Japan I requested Lieutenant ISTordquist 
to make as complete a collection of the land and fresh-water 
Crustacea of the country as the short time permitted. In conse- 
quence of the unusual poverty of the country in these animal 
forms the result was much smaller than we had hoped. During 
a preceding voyage to the Polar Sea I had assisted in making 
a collection of land Crustacea on Renoe, an island north of the 
limit of trees in the outer archipelago of northern Norway. It is 
possible to collect there in a few hours as many animals of this 
group as in fertile Japan in as many days. There are parts of Japan, 
^covered with thick woods and thickets of bushes, where during 
a forenoon's excursion one can scarcely find a single crustacean, 
although the ground is full of deep, shady clefts in which 
masses of dried leaves are collected, and which therefore ought 
to be an exceedingly suitable haunt for land mollusca. The 
reason of this poverty ought perhaps to be sought in the want 
of chalk or basic calcareous rocks, which prevails in the parts of 
Japan which we visited. 

• After the Swedish-Dutch minister had further given us a 
splendid farewell dinner at the Grand Hotel, to which, as before, 
the Japanese ministers and the representatives of the foreign 
powers in Japan were invited, we at last weighed anchor on the 
11th October to prosecute our voyage. At this dinner we saw 
for the first time the Chinese embassy which at the time visited 
Japan with the view of settling the troublesome Loo-Choo affair 
which threatened to lead to a war between the two great powers 
of Eastern Asia. The Chinese ambassadors were, as usual, two 
in number, being commissioned to watch one over the other. 
One of them laughed immoderately at all that was said during 
dinner, although he did not understand a word. According 
to what I was told by one who had much experience in the 
customs of the heavenly empire, he did this, not because he 
heard or understood anything worth laughing at, but because 
he considered it good manners to laugh. 

Remarkable was the interest which the Chinese labourers 
settled at Yokohama took in our voyage, about which they 
appeared to have read something in their own or in the 
Japanese newspapers. When I sent one of the sailors ashore 
to execute a commission, and asked him how he could do that 



670 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

without any knowledge of the language, he replied, " There is no 
fear, I always ^ meet with some Chinaman who speaks English 
and helps me." The Chinese not only always assisted our 
sailors as interpreters without remuneration, ^but accompanied 
them for hours, gave them good advice in making purchases, 
and expressed their sympathy with all that they must have 
suffered during our wintering in the high north. They were 
always cleanly, tall, and stately in their figures, and corresponded 
in no particular to the calumnious descriptions we so often read 
of this people in European and American writings. 

From Yokohama the course was shaped for 'Kobe, one of the 
more considerable Japanese ports which have been opened to 
Europeans. Kobe is specially remarkable on account of its 
having railway communication with Osaka, the most important 
manufacturing town of Japan, and with Kioto, the ancient 
capital and seat of the Mikado's court for centuries. 

I had already begun at Yokohama to buy Japanese books, 
particularly such as were printed before the opening of the 
ports to Europeans. In order to carry on this traffic with 
greater success, I had procured the assistance of a young 
Japanese very familiar with French, Mr. Okuschi, assistant in 
Dr. Geertz' chemico-technical laboratory at Yokohama. But 
because the supply of old books in this town, which a few years 
ago had been of little importance, was very limited, I had at 
first, in order to make purchases on a larger scale, repeatedly 
sent Mr. Okuschi to Tokio, the seat of the former Shogun 
dynasty, and from that town, before the departure of the Vega 
from Yokohama, to Kioto, the former seat of learning in Japan. 
The object of the Vegas call at the port of Kobe was to fetch 
the considerable purchases made there by Mr. Okuschi.^ 

Kobe, or Hiogo, as the old Japanese part of the town is 
called, is a city of about 40,000 inhabitants, beautifully situated 
at the entrance to the Inland Sea of Japan, i.e., the sound 
which separates the main island from the south islands, Shikoku 
and Kiushiu. Mountain ridges of considerable height here run 
along the sea-shore. Some of the houses of the European 
merchants are built on the lower slopes of these hills, with high, 
beautiful, forest-clad heights as a background, and a splendid 
view of the harbour in front. The Japanese part of the town 
consists, as usual, of small houses which, on the side next the 
street, are occupied mainly with sale or work-shops where the 
whole family lives all day. The streets have thus a very lively 

'^ The number o£ the works which the collection of Japanese books 
contains is somewhat over a thousand. The number of volumes amounts 
to fire or six thousand ; most of the volumes, however, are not larger than 
one of our books of a hundred pages. So far as can be judged by 
the Japanese titles, which are often little distinctive, the works may be 



XVIll.] 



KOBE. 



G71 



appearance, and offer the foreigner an endless variety of remark- 
able and instructive pictures from the life of the people. The 
European part of the town, on the other hand, is built with 
stately houses, some of which are situated on the street that runs 
along the shore. Here, among others, are to be found splendid 
European hotels, European clubs, counting-houses, shops, &c. 

Not far from Kobe, and having railway communication with 
it, is Osaka, the largest manufacturing town of Japan, famed for 
its theatres and its dancing-girls. Unfortunately I had not time 
to visit it, for I started for the old capital, Kioto, a few hours 
after the Vega anchored, and after I had waited on the governor 
in order to procure the passport that is still required for travel- 
ling in the interior. He received me, thanks to a letter oi 
introduction I had with me from one of the ministers at Tokio, 
in an exceedingly agreeable way. His reception-room was part 
of a large European stone house, the vestibule of which was 
tastefully fitted up in European style with a Brussels carpet 
gay with variegated colours. At our visit we were offered 
Japanese tea, as is customary everywhere in Japan, both in the 
palace of the Emperor and the cabin of the poor peasant. The 
Governor was, as all the higher officials in Japan now are, 
dressed like a European of distinction, but he could not speak 



distributed among the various brandies of knowledge in 
way: 



History ... 

On Buddhism and iiducation 

On Shintoism 

On Christianity (printed in 1716) 

Manners and Customs 

The Drama 
Laws 

Politics, Political argumentative writings, partly 
privately printed against the recent statues 

Poetry ac d Prose fiction 

Heraldry, Antiquities, Ceremonies 

The Art of War and the Use of Weapons ... 
Chess 

Coining ... 

Dictionaries, Grammars 

Geography, Maps ... 

Natural History 

The Science of Medicine 

Arithmetic, Astronomy, Astrology 

Handicrafts, Agriculture 

Notebooks ... 

The art of making bouquets (Horticulture ?) 

Bibliography 

Various ... 

Total ... 



e in tht 


i following 




Number 




of Works. 




. 176 




. 161 




. 38 




1 




. 33 




. 13 




5 


new anc 






. 24 




. 137 




.27 




. 41 




1 




4 




. 18 




. 76 




. 68 




13 




. 39 




. 43 




. 73 




. 16 




9 




. 20 


' 


. 1036 



OHAP. xviii.] A JAPANESE EAILWAY. 673 

any European language. He showed himself, however, to be 
much interested in our voyage, and immediately ordered ^n 
official in his court, who was well acquainted with English, 
Mr. Yanimoto, to accompany me to Kioto. 

We travelled thither by a railway constructed wholly in the 
European style. At Kioto my companion, at my sjDecial request, 
conducted me, not to the European hotel there, but to a 
Japanese inn, remarkable as usual for cleanliness, for a 
numerous crowd of talkative female attendants, and for the 
extreme friendliness of the inn people to their guests as soon 
as they indicated, by taking off their boots at the door, that it 
was their intention not to break Japanese customs and usages 
in any offensive way. A calling card and a letter from Admiral 
Kawamura, minister of marine, which I sent from the hotel to 
the Governor of Kioto, procured me an adjutant No. 2, a young, 
cheerful, and talkative official, Mr. Koba-Yaschi, whose eyes 
sparkled with intelligence and merry good humour.. One would 
sooner have taken him for a highly-esteemed student president 
at some northern university, than for a Japanese official. It 
was already late in the day, so that before nightfall I had time 
only to take the bath which, at every Japanese inn not of too 
inferior a kind, is always at the traveller's call, and arrange the 
dredging excursion which, along with Lieut. Nordquist, I 
intended to make next day on Lake Biwa. 

The road between Kioto and Biwa we travelled the following 
morning in jinrikishas. In a short time there will be com- 
munication between these two places by a railway constructed 
exclusively by native workmen and native engineers. It will 
be, and is intended to be, an actual Japanese railway. For a 
considerable distance it passes through a tunnel, which, how- 
ever, as some of the Europeans at Kobe stated, might easily 
have been avoided " if the Japanese had not considered it 
desirable that Japan, too, should have a railway tunnel to 
show, as such are found both in Europe and America." It is 
probable, in any case, that the bends which would have been 
required if the tunnel was to be avoided, would have cost more 
by the additional length than the tunnel, and that therefore the 
procedure of the JajDanese was better considered than their 
envious EurojDean neighbours would allow. There apjjears to 
prevail among the European residents in Japan a certain 
jealousy of the facility with which this country, till recently so 
far behind in an industrial respect, assimilates the skill in art 
and industry of the Europeans, and of the rapidity with which 
the people thereby make themselves independent of the wares 
of the foreign merchants. 

When we reached Lake Biwa we were conducted by Mr. 
Koba-Yaschi to an inn close by the shore, with a splendid view 

X X 



674' THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

of the southern part of the lake. We were shown into beautiful 
Japanese rooms, which had evidently been arranged for the 
reception of Europeans, and in which accordingly some tables 
and chairs had been placed. On the tables we found, on our 
arrival, bowls with fruit and confections, Japanese tea, and 
braziers. The walls were formed partly of "tastefully gilt paper 
panels ornamented with mottoes, reminding visitors of the 
splendid view. 

A whole day of the short time which was allowed me to 
study the remarkable things of Kioto I devoted to Lake Biwa, 
because lakes are exceedingly uncommon in the south, for they 
occur only in the countries which have either been covered with 
glaciers in the most recent geological periods, or, in consequence 
of the action of volcanic forces, have been the scene of violent 
disturbances of the surface of the earth. I believed that Lake 
Biwa would forhi an exception to this, but I was probably 
mistaken ; for tradition relates that this lake was formed in a 
single night at the same time that the high volcanic cone of 
Fusiyama was elevated. This tradition, in its general outline, 
corresponds so closely with the teaching of geology, that scarcely 
any geologist will doubt its truth. 

After our arrival at the inn we had to Vait a very long time 
for the steamer I had ordered. On this account I thoughtlessly 
enough broke out in reproaches on my excellent Japanese adju- 
tants, who, however, received my hard words only with friendly 
smiles, which increased still further my impatience at the loss of 
time which was thus occasioned. It was not until far on in the 
day, when I was already out dredging from a small steamer, that 
I was informed as to the cause of the delay. The Biwa Steamship 
Company had, at the request of the Governor, intended to place 
at my disposal a very large boat well provided with coal, but after 
taking the coal on board it had sunk so deep that it grounded 
in the mud of the harbour. We had already got far out with 
the little steamer when the large one at last got off. I was 
now obliged to exchange vessels in order to be received " in a , 
more honourable way." It was not until this took place that 
I was informed that I was guest and not master, on which 
account I was obliged to employ the rest of the afternoon in 
excusing my former -violent behaviour, in which, with the help 
of friendly words, beer, and red wine, I succeeded pretty well, 
to judge by the mirth which soon began to prevail among my 
now very numerous Japanese companions. 

On the little steamer I had ordered two of my crew whom I 
had brought with me from the Vega to prepare a meal for the 
Japanese and ourselves. In this way the dinner that had been 
arranged for us, without my knowledge, became superfluous. 
I was obliged instead to receive as a gift the provisions and 



1 



XVIII.] LAKE BIWA. 675 

liquors purchased for the dinner, consisting of fowls, eggs, 
potatoes, red wine and beer, giving at the same time a receipt 
as a matter of form. 

During our excursion on the lake we met with various boats 
laden with sea-weed, which had been taken up from the bottom 
of the lake to be used as manure for the neighbouring culti- 
vated fields. Partly among these algae, partly by dredging, 
Lieut. Nordquist collected various interesting fresh-water Crus- 
tacea (Paludina, Melania, Unio, Planorbis &c.,) several sorts 
of shrimps (a Hippolyte) small fishes, &c. Lake Biwa abounds 
in fish, and harbours besides a large clumsily-formed species of 
lizard. In order to make further collections of the animal 
forms occurring there, Lieut. Nordquist remained at the lake 
till next day. I, on the other hand, went immediately back to 
Kioto, arriving there in the evening after nightfall. 

After having eaten, along with my two Japanese companions 
an unexceptionable European dinner at the inn of the town, 
kept by Japanese, but arranged in European style, we paid a 
visit to a company of Japanese dancing-girls. 

Kioto competes with Osaka for the honour of having the 
prettiest dancing-girls. These form a distinct class of young 
girls, marked by a peculiar variegated dress. They wear besides 
a peculiar hair-ornament, are much painted, and have their lips 
coloured black and gold. At the dancing places of greatest note 
a European is not received, unless he has with him a known 
native who answers for his courteous behaviour. After taking 
off his shoes on entering, the visitor is introduced to a separate 
room with its floor covered with matting and its walls orna- 
mented with Japanese drawings and mottoes, but without 
other furniture. A small square cushion is given to each of the 
guests. After they have settled themselves in Japanese fashion, 
that is to say, squatting cross-legged, pipes and tea are brought 
in, on which a whole crowd of young girls come in and, chatting 
pleasantly, settle themselves around the guests, observing all the 
while complete decency even according to the most exacting 
European ideas. There is not to be seen here any trace of the 
effrontery and coarseness which are generally to be found in 
similar places in Europe. One would almost believe that he 
was among a crowd of school-girls who had given the sour moral 
lessons of their governess the slip, and were thinking of nothing 
else than innocently gossiping away some hours. After a while 
the dance begins, accompanied by very monotonous music and 
singing. The slow movements of the legs and arms of the 
dancers remind us of certain slow and demure scenes from 
European ballets. There is nothing indecent ■ in this dance, 
but we learn that there are other dances wilder and less 
decorous. 

X X 2 



676 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



The dancing-girls are recruited exclusively from tlie poorer 
classes ; pretty young girls, to help their parents or to earn some 
styvers for themselves, selling themselves for a certain time to 
the owners of the dancing-places, and when the time agreed 
upon has come to an end returning to their homes, where not- 
withstanding this they marry without' difficulty. All the 
dancing-girls therefore are young, many of them pretty even 
according to European ideas, though their appearance is 
destroyed in our eyes by the tasteless way in which they 
paint themselves and colour their lips. Unfortunately I had 




JAPANESE COURT DRESS. 



not time to avail myself of the opportunity which Kioto offers 
the foreigner of judging with certainty regarding the Japanese 
taste in female beauty. For here, as at various other Japanese 
towns, there are a number of girls who have been officially 
selected as the most beautiful among the youth of the place. 
The Japanese may visit them for a certain payment, but to 
Europeans they do not show themselves willingly, and only 
for a large sum. When this takes place at any time, it is 
only a dumb show for a few moments, during which no 
words are exchanged. 

The Governor had promised to carry me round next day 



XVIII.] 



THE OLD IMPERIAL PALACE GOSHO 



677 



to see whatever was remarkable in the town. I was not much 
deHghted at this, because I feared that the whole day would 
be taken up with inspecting the whole or half-European 
public offices and schools, which had not the slightest interest 
for me. My fear however was quite unjustified. The Governor 
was a man of genius, who, according to the statements of 
my companions, was reckoned among the first of the con- 
temporary poets of Japan. He immediately declared that he 
supposed that the new public offices and schools would in- 
terest me much less than the 
old palaces, temples, porcelain 
and faience manufactories of 
the town, and that he there- 
fore intended to employ the 
day I spent under his guidance 
in showing me the latter. 

"We made a beginning with the 
old imperial palace Gosho, the 
most splendid dwelling of Old 
Japan. It is not however very 
grand according to European 
ideas. A very extensive space 
of ground is here covered with 
a number of one-story wooden 
houses, intended for the Em- 
peror, the imperial family, and 
their suite. The buildings 
are, like all Japanese houses; 
divided by movable panels into 
a number of rooms, richly 
provided with paintings and 
gilded ornamentation, but 
otherwise without a trace of 
furniture. For the palace now 
stands uninhabited since the 
Mikado overthrew the Shogun 

dynasty and removed to Tokio. It already gives a striking 
picture of the change which has taken place in the land. Only the 
imperial family and the great men of the country were formerly 
permitted to enter the sacred precincts of Gosho, Now it 
stands open to every curious native or foreigner, and it has 
even as an exhibition building been already pressed into the 
service of industry. Alongside the large buildings there are 
several small ones, of which one was intended to protect 
the Emperor-deity during earthquakes ; the others formed 
play-places for the company of grown children who were then 
permitted to govern the country. 




NOBLE IN ANTIQUE DRESS. 



678 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Much, more remarkable and instructive than the now de- 
serted imperial palace are the numerous temples at Kioto, of 
which we visited several. We were generally received by the 
priests in a large vestibule, whose floor was covered with a 
fine woollen carpet and was provided with tables and chairs of 
European patterns. The priests first offered us Japanese tea, 
cigars, and sweetmeats ; then we examined some valuable 
articles exhibited in the room, consisting of bronzes, works in 
the noble metals, splendid old lacquer work, and a number of 

famous swords dedicated to the 
temple. These were the only 
things that our freethinking 
Governor treated with rever- 
ence; for the rest neither the 
priests nor their reliques seemed 
to inspire him with any par- 
ticular respect. 

When a valuable Japanese 
sword is exhibited one touches 
neither the hilt nor the scabbard, 
and of course still less the blade, 
with the bare hand, but it is 
taken hold of either with a 
gloved hand, or with the hand 
with a handkerchief or piece of 
cloth wrapped round it. The 
blade is only half bared, the 
steel settinsr is looked at against 
the light and admired ; on the 
often exceedingly valuable 
blades which are not moun- 
ted, but only provided with a 
wooden case to protect them 
from rust, the maker's mark is 
examined, and so on. As 
among us in former times, the 
swordsmith's is the only handicraft which in old times was 
held in high esteem in Japan, and immense sums were often 
paid for sword-blades forged by famous masters of the art. 
Among old Japanese writings are to be found many works 
specially treating of the making of weapons. But since the 
swordsmen (sarmirai) have now been forbidden to show them- 
selves armed, old Japanese swords are sold in all the towns 
by hundreds and thousands, often for a trifle. During our 
stay in the country I purchased for a comparatively limited 
sum a fine collection of such weapons. Even those who cannot 
appreciate the artistic forging of the blade, the steel-setting. 




BUDDHIST PRIEST. 



XVIII.]. 



WEARING THE SWORD IN JAPAN. 



;679 



and tempering, must admire the exceedingly tasteful casting 
and embossing of the ornamentation, especially of the guard- 
plates of the sword. They are often veritable works of art, 
unsurpassed in style and execution. 

It is not very many years ago since the men who belonged to 
the samurai class never showed themselves abroad without 
being armed with two swords. Even schoolboys went armed to 
the first European schools that were established in the country. 
This gave occasion to several acts of violence during the time 
which succeeded the opening of the ports, for which reason the 
European ambassadors some 
years after requested that 
carrying the sword in time 
of peace should be prohib- 
ited. To this the Japanese 
government answered that 
it would make short work 
with the minister who 
should publish such a pro- 
hibition. Soon after, how- 
ever, it gave permission to 
those who desired it to go 
without weapons, and the 
carrying of arms soon be- 
came so unfashionable that 
one of the authorities did 
dare at last to issue a distinct 
prohibition of it. During 
our stay in Japan, accord- 
ingly, we did not see a 
single man armed with the 
two swords formerly in use. 

After we had seen and 
admired the treasures in 
the temple vestibule, we 
visited the temple itself. 
This is always of wood, 

richly ornamented with carvings and gilding. If it is dedicated 
to Shinto, there are no images in it, and very few ornaments, if 
we except a mirror and a large locked press with the doors 
smashed in, which sometimes occupies the wall opposite the 
entrance, and in which, as I have already stated, the spirit of the 
deity is said to dwell. The Shinto temples are in general poor. 
Many are so inconsiderable as to look almost like dovecotes. 
They are often completely deserted, so that it is difficult to 
discover them among the magnificent trees by which they were 
surrounded. The entrance to the temple is indicated by a gate 




A SiMURAI. 



680 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



{torryi) of wood, stone, or copper, and here and there are ropes, 
stretched over the way, to which written prayers and vows are 
affixed. 

Even those who have long studied Japan and its literature 
have very little knowledge of the inner essence of Shintoism, 
This religion is considered by some a pure deism, by others a 
belief with political aims, the followers of which worship the 
departed heroes of the country. Of a developed morality this 
religion is wholly devoid. In the same way it appears to be 
uncertain whether Shintoism is a survival of the original religion 
of the country or whether it has been brought from abroad. 



1 




Buddhism was introduced from China by Corea. Its temples 
are more ornamented than the Shinto temples, and contain images 
of' deities, bells, drums, holy books, and a great quantity of altar 
ornaments. The transmigration of souls, and rewards and 
punishments in a life after this, are doctrines of Buddhism. 
Outside the temples proper there are to be found in many places 
large or small images in stone or bronze of the deities of 
Buddha. The largest of these consist of colossal statues in 
bronze {Baihutsu), representing Buddha in a sitting position, and 
themselves forming the screen to a temple with smaller images. 



XVIII.] 



STATUES OF BHUDDA. 



681 



A similar statue is also to be found at Kamakura, another at 
Tokio, a third at Nara near Kioto, and so on. Some have of 
late years been sold for the value of the metal ; one has in this 
way been brought to London, and is now exhibited in the 
Kensington Museum. The metal of the statues consists of an 
alloy of copper with tin and a little gold, the last named 
constituent giving rise to the report that their value is very 




BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT KOBE. 



considerable. To give an idea of the size of some Daih^ctsic 
statues it may be mentioned that the one at Nara is fifty-three 
and a half feet high, and that one can crawl into the head 
through the nose orifices. 

Nearly all the Daibutsio images are made after nearly the 
same design, which has been improved from generation to 
generation until the countenance of the image has received a 



682 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

stamp of benevolence, calm, and majesty, which has probably never 
been surpassed by the productions of western art. Daihctsu 
images evidently stand in the same relation to the works of 
private sculptors as folk-poetry to that of individual bards. 

As I have before pointed out, the Western taste for the 
gigantic was not prevalent in Old Japan. It was evidently 
elegance and neatness, not grandeur, that formed the object 
towards which the efforts of the artist, the architect, and 
the gardener were directed. Only the Daibutsu images, some 
bells, and other instruments of worship form exceptions to 
this. During our excursion at Kioto we passed an inclosure 
where the walls were built of blocks of stone so colossal, that 
it was difficult to comprehend how it had been possible to 
lift and move them with the means that were at the dis- 
posal of the Japanese in former times. In the neighbourhood 
of that place there was a grave, probably the only one of its 
kind. It is described in the following way in an account of 
the curiosities of Kioto written by a native : — 

"Mimisuka, or the grave of the noses and the ears, was 
erected by Hideyoshi Taiko, who lived about A.D. 1590. When 
the military chiefs of this famous man attacked Corea with 
a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, he gave orders that they 
should bring home and show him all the ears and noses of the 
enemies who were killed in the contest, for it was an old 
practice in Japan to cut off the enemies' heads to show them 
to the king or the commander of the army. But it was now 
impossible to bring the heads of the dead Corean warriors to 
Japan, because the distance was too great. Hideyoshi therefore 
gave the above order, and the ears and noses, which were brought 
to Japan, were buried ..together at that place. The grave is 
730 feet in circumference, and is 30 feet high." 

Kioto is one of the principal places for the manufacture of 
faunce, porcelain, and cloisonn6. The productions of the ceramic 
art are, as is well-known, distinguished by their tasteful forms 
and beautiful colours, and are highly valued by connoisseurs, 
on which account they are exported on a large scale to Europe 
and America. The works are numerous and small, and are 
owned for the most part by families that for a long succession 
of generations have devoted themselves to the same occupation. 
The articles are burned in very^small furnaces, and are commonly 
sold in a shop which is close to the place where they are made. 
The making of porcelain in Japan, therefore, bears the stamp 
rather of handicraft than of manufacturing industry. The wares 
gain thereby in respect of art to an almost incredible degree. 
They have the same relation to the productions of the great 



XVIII.] PEESENTATION OP A MOTTO. 683 

European manufactories that the drawing of an artist has to 
a showily coloured lithograph. But the price is high in propor- 
tion, and the Japanese porcelain is too dear for every-day use 
even in its own country. Nearly all the large sets of table 
porcelain that I saw in Japan were, therefore, ordered from 
abroad. The cups which the natives themselves use for rice, 
tea, and sulci are, however, of . native manufacture; but even 
in a well-provided Japanese household there is seldom so much 
porcelain as would be required for a proper coffee-party 
at home. 

In the evening the Governor had invited us to a dinner, 
which was given in a hall belonging to a literary society in 
the town. The rooms were partly furnished in European style 
with tables, chairs, Brussels carpets, &c. The dinner was 
European in the arrangement of dishes, wines, and speeches. 
The dishes and wines were abundant and in great variety. The 
company were very merry, and the host appeared to be greatly 
pleased, when I mentioned that at one of the places which I 
had seen that day I saw a wall adorned by a motto of his 
composition. He immediately promised to write a similar one 
on me with reference to my visit to the town, and when a few 
moments after he had the iirst line ready, he invited his 
Japanese guests to write the second. They tried for a good 
while with merry jests to hit upon some suitable conclusion, 
but in vain. Early the following morning Mr. Koba-Yaschi 
came to me, bringing with him a broad strip of silk on 
which the following was pencilled in bold, nobly-formed 
characters : 

Umi hara-no-hate-made 
Akiva-Sumi-watare, 

which when translated runs thus : 

" As far as the sea extends 
The autumn moon spreads her beneficent light." 

According to the • explanation which I received the piece 
points out that the autumn moon spreads her beneficent rays 
as far as to that place in the high north where we wintered. 
After the above-quoted verse came the following addition in 
Japanese : " Written by Machimura Masanavo, Governor of 
Kioto-Fu, to Professor Nordenskiold, on the occasion of a dinner 
given to him during the autumn of 1879." The whole besides 
was signed with the author's common, as well as his poetical, 
name, and had his seal attached. His poetical name was Rio- 
San, which may be hterally translated " Dragon-Mountain." 

The poetry of the Japanese is so unlike that of the Western 
nations that we find it difficult to comprehend the. prpductioms 



684 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap, xviii. 

of the Japanese poets. Perhaps they ought more correctly to 
be called poetical mottoes. They play a great part in the 
intellectual life of the Japanese. Their authors are highly 
esteemed, and even in the homes of the poorer classes the walls 
are often ornamented with strips of silk or paper on which 
poems are written in large, bold, pencil characters. Among the 
books I brought home with me are many which contain 
collections of the writings of private poets and poetesses, or 
selections from the most famous of the productions of Japanese 
literature in this department. A roll of drawings which turned 
up very often represents the sorrowful fate of a famous poetess. 
First of all she is depicted as a representative Japanese beauty, 
blooming with youth and grace, then she is represented in 
different stages of decay, then as dead, then as a half-decayed 




RIO-SAN' S SEAL. 



corpse torn asunder by ravens, and finally as a heap of bones. 
The series ends with a cherry-tree in splendid bloom, into which 
the heroine, after her body had passed through all the stages of 
annihilation, has been changed. The cherry-tree in blossom is 
considered by the Japanese the ideal of beauty in the vegetable 
kingdom, and during the flowering season of this tree excursions 
are often undertaken to famous cherry-groves where hour after 
hour is passed in tranquil admiration of the flower-splendour 
of the tree. Unfortunately I was so late in getting the 
explanation of the beautiful poetical idea that ran through 
this series of pictures, some of which were executed with 
execrable truth to nature, that I missed the opportunity of 
purchasing it. 

I was obhged to leave Kioto too early in order to be present 




BURYING PLACE AT KIOTO. 



686 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

at a fete, which was given to us at Kobe by the Japanese, 
Europeans, and Chinese who were interested in our voyage. 
The entertainment was held in a Buddhist temple without 
the town, and was very pleasant and agreeable. The Japanese 
did not seem at all to consider that their temple was desecrated 
by such an arrangement. In the course of the afternoon for 
instance there came several pilgrims to the temple. I observed 
them carefully, and could not mark in their countenances any 
trace of displeasure at a number of foreigners feasting in the 
beautiful temple grove whither they had come on pilgrimage. 
They appeared rather to consider that they had come to 
the goal of their wanderings at a fortunate moment, and 
therefore gladly accepted the refreshments that were 
offered them. 

On the morning of the 18th October the Vega again weighed 
anchor, to proceed on her voyage. The course was shaped 
through the Inland Sea of Japan for Nagasaki, When I 
requested of the Governor of Kobe permission to land at two 
places on the way, he not only immediately granted my request, 
but also sent on the Vega the same English-speaking official 
from his court who had before attended me to Kioto. The 
weather was clear and fine, so that we had a good opportunity 
of admiring the magnificent environs of the Inland Sea. They 
resemble much the landscape in a northern archipelago. The 
views here are however more monotonous in consequence of 
their being less variety in the contours of the mountains. 
Here as at Kobe the hills consist mainly of a species of granite 
which is exposed to weathering on so large a scale that the 
hard rocks are nearly everywhere decomposed into a yellow 
sand unfavourable for vegetation. The splendid wild granite 
cliffs of the north accordingly are absent here. All the hill-tops 
are evenly rounded, and everywhere, except where there has 
been a sand-slip, covered with a rich vegetation, which in 
consequence of the evenness of height of the trees gives little 
variety to the landscape, which otherwise is among the most 
beautiful on the globe. 

We landed at two places, on the first occasion at Hirosami. 
Here some fishermen's cabins and some peasants' houses formed 
a little village at the foot of a high, much-weathered granite 
ridge. The burying-place was situated near one of the houses, 
close to the shore. On an area of some hundred square yards 
there were numerous gravestones, some upright, some fallen. 
Some were ornamented with fresh flowers, at one was a Shinto 
shrine of wooden pins, at another stood a bowl with rice and a 
small Boki bottle. Our zoologists here made a pretty rich 
collection of littoral animals, among which may be mentioned a 
cuttle-fish which had crept down amongst the wet sand, an 



XVIII,] 



SHIMONOSEKL 



687 



animal that is industriously searched for and eaten by the 
natives. Among the cultivated plants we saw here, as many 
times before in the high-lying parts of the country, an old 
acquaintance from home, namely buckwheat. 

The second time the Vega anchored at a peasant village right 
opposite Shimonoseki. When we landed there came an official 
on board, courteously declaring that we had no right to land at 
that place. But he was immediately satisfied and made no 
more difficulties when he was informed that we had the 
permission of the Governor, and that instead of the usual pass- 
port an official from Kobe accompanied the vessel. Shimonoseki 




».. '' 







ENTRANCE TO NAGASAKI. 



has a melancholy reputation in European-Japanese history from 
the deeds of violence done here by a united English, French, 
Dutch, and American fleet of seventeen vessels on the 4th 
and 5th September, 1864, in order to compel the Japanese to 
open the sound to foreigners, and the unreasonably heavy 
compensation which after the victory was won they demanded 
from the conquered. Although only fifteen years have passed 
since this occurred, there appears to be no trace of bitter feeling 
towards Europeans among the inhabitants of the region. At 
least we were received at the village in the. neighbourhood of 
which we landed with extraordinary kindness. The' village was 



688 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

situated at the foot of a rocky ridge, and consisted of a number 
of houses arranged in a row along a single street, the fronts of 
the houses being as usual occupied as shops, places for selling 
sahi, and workshops for home industry. The only remarkable 
things besides that the village had to offer consisted of a Shinto 
temple surrounded by beautiful trees and a considerable salt- 
work, which consisted of extensive, shallow, well-planned ponds 
now nearly dry, into which the sea-water is admitted in order 
to evaporate, and from which the condensed salt liquid is 
afterwards drawn into salt-pans in order that the evaporation 
may be completed. It was remarkable to observe that 
several Crustacea throve exceedingly well in the very 
strong brine. 

On the surrounding hills we saw thickets of the Japanese 
wax tree, PJius siiccedaneus. The wax is pressed out of the 
berries of this bush with the help of heat. It is used on a 
large scale in making the lights which the natives themselves 
burn, and is exported bleached and refined to Europe, where it 
is sometimes used in the manufacture of lights. Now, however, 
these wax lights are increasingly superseded by American kero- 
sene oil. The price has fallen so much that the preparation of 
vegetable wax is now said scarcely to yield a profit.^ 

We left this place next morning, and on the 21st October the 
Vega anchored in the harbour of Nagasaki. My principal 
intention in visiting this place was to collect fossil plants, 
which I supposed would be found at the Takasima coal- 
mine, or in the neighbourhood of the coal-field. In order to 
find out the locality without delay, I reckoned on the fondness of 
the Japanese for collecting remarkable objects of all kinds from 
the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. I therefore hoped 
to find in some of the shops where old bronzes, porcelain, 
weapons, &c., were offered for sale, fossil plants from the neigh- 
bourhood, with the locality given. The first day, therefore, I 
ran about to all the dealers in curiosities, but without success. 
At last one of the Japanese with whom I conversed told me 
that an exhibition of the products of nature and art in the 
region was being arranged, and that among the objects exhibited 
I might possibly find what I sought for. 

Of course I immediately availed myself of the opportunity to 
see one of the many Japanese local exhibitions of which I had 
heard so- much. It was yet in disorder, but I was, at all events, 
willingly admitted, and thus had an opportunity of seeing much 
that was instructive to me, especially a collection of rocks from 
the neighbourhood. Among these I discovered at last, to my 

1 Further information on this point is given by Henry Gribble in "The 
Preparation of Vegetable Was" {Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, 
vol. iii. part i. p. 94. Yokohama, 1875). 



xviii.] VISIT TO MOGI. 689 

great satisfaction, some beautiful fossil plants from Mogi, a place 
not far from Nagasaki. 

Immediately the following morning I started for Mogi, accom- 
panied by the Japanese attendant I had with me from Kobe, 
and by another adjutant given me by the very obliging governor 
of Nagasaki. We were to travel across the hills on horse- 
back. I was accompanied, besides my Japanese assistants and a 
man from the Vega, all on horseback, by a number of coolies 
carrying provisions and other equipment. The Governor had 
lent me his own horse, which was considered by the Japanese 
something quite grand. It was a yellowish-brown stallion, not 
particularly large, but very fine, resembling a Norwegian horse, 
very gentle and sure-footed. The latter quality was also quite 
necessary, for the journey began with a ride up a hundred 
smooth and not very convenient stone steps. Farther on, too, 
the road, which was exceedingly narrow and often paved with 
smooth stones, went repeatedly up and down such stairs, not very 
suitable for a man on horseback, and close to the edge of preci- 
pices several hundred feet deep, where a singl-e false step would 
have cost both the horse and its rider their lives. But as has 
been said, our horses were sure-footed and sure-eyed, and the 
riders took care in passing such places not to pull the reins. 

None of the mountain regions I have seen in Japan are so well 
cultivated as the environs of Nagasaki. Every place that is some- 
what level, though only several hundred square yards in extent, is 
used for growing some of the innumerable cultivated plants of 
the country, principally rice : but as such easily cultivated places 
occur in only limited numbers, the inhabitants have by industry 
and hard labour changed the steep slopes of the mountains 
into a succession of level terraces rising one above the other, all 
carefully watered by irrigating conduits. 

Mogi is a considerable fishing village lying at the seaside 
twenty kilometres south of Nagasaki in a right line, on the 
other side of a peninsula occupied by lava beds and volcanic 
tuffs, which projects from the island Kiushiu, which at that place 
is nearly cut asunder by deep fjords. No European lives at the 
place, and of course there is no European inn there. But we 
got lodgings in the house of one of the principal or richest men 
in the village, a maker and seller of saki, or as we would call 
him in Swedish, a brandy distiller and publican. Here we were 
received in a very friendly manner, in clean and elegant rooms, 
and were waited on by the young and very pretty daughter of 
our host at the head of a number of other female attendants. 
It may be supposed that our place of entertainment had no 
resemblance to a public-house in Sweden. We did not witness 
here the tipsy behaviour of some human wrecks, and as little 
some other incidents which might have reminded us of public- 

Y Y 



690 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap, xviir. 

house life in Europe. All went on in the distillery and the 
public-house as calmly and quietly as the work in the house of 
a well-to-do country squire in Sweden who does not swear and 
is not quarrelsome. 

Said is a liquor made by fermenting and distilling rice. It 
is very variable in taste and strength, sometimes resembling- 
inferior Rhine wine, sometimes more like weak grain brandy. 
Along with sahi our host also manufactured vinegar, which was 
made from rice and saki residues, which with the addition of 
some other vegetable substances were allowed to stand and 
acidify in large jars ranged in rows in the yard. 

When my arrival became known I was visited by the prin- 
cipal men of the village. We were soon good friends by the 
help of a friendly reception, cigars and red wine. Among 
them the physician of the village was especially of great use to 
me. As soon as he became aware of the occasion of my visit he 
stated that such fossils as I was in search of did indeed occur in 
the region, but that they were only accessible at low water. I 
immediately visited the place with the physician and my com- 
panions from Nagasaki, and soon discovered several strata 
containing the finest fossil plants one could desire. During 
this and the following day I made a rich collection, partly with 
the assistance of a numerous crowd of children who zealously 
helped me in collecting. They were partly boys and partly girls, 
the latter always having a little one on their backs. These little 
children were generally quite bare-headed. Notwithstanding 
this they slept with the crown of the head exposed to the hot- 
test sun-bath on the backs of their bustling sisters, who jumped 
lightly and securely over stocks and stones, and never appeared 
to have any idea that the burdens on their backs were at all 
unpleasant or troublesome. 

According to Dr. A. G. Nathokst's examination, the fossil 
plants which I brought home from this place belong to the 
more recent Tertiary formation. Our distinguished and acute 
vegetable palaeontologist fixes attention on the point, that we 
would have exj)ected to find here a fossil flora allied to the 
recent South Japanese, which is considered to be derived from 
a Tertiary flora which closely resembles it. There is, however, 
no such correspondence, for impressions of ferns are almost com- 
pletely wanting at Mogi, and even of pines there is only a single 
leaf-bearing variety which closely resembles the Spitzbergen 
form of Sequoia Langsdorfii, Brag. On the other hand, there 
are met with, in great abundance, the leaves of a species of 
beech nearly allied to the red beech of America, Fagus 
ferruginea, Ait., but not resembling the recent Japanese 
varieties of the same family. There were found, besides, leaves of 
Quercus, Juglans, Populus, Myrica, Salix, Zelkova, Liquidambar, 





FOSSIL PLANTS FROM MOOI. 



1, 2. Beech Leaves (Fagiis ferruginea, Ait., var. pliocena, Natli.). 3. Maple Leaf (Acer Mono. 
Max., \iiT. pliocena, Nath.). 



Y Y 2 



G92 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



Acer, Primus, Tilia, &c., resenibliug leaves of recent types 
from the forests of Japan, from the forest flora of America, 
or from the temperate flora of the Himalayas. But as the 
place where they were found is situated at the sea-shore, 
quite close to the southern extremity of Japan, it is singular 
that the tropical or sub-tropical elements of the flora of Japan 
are here wanting. From this Dr. Nathorst draws the con- 
clusion that these are not, as has been hitherto supposed, the 
remains of a flora originating in Japan, but that they have since 
migrated thither from a former continent situated further to the 
south, which has since disappeared. Dr. Nathorst' s examination 
is not yet completed, but even if this were the case, want of 
space would not permit me to treat of this point at greater 

length. I cannot, however, omit to 
-v^ mention that it was highly agreeable 

to be able to connect with the memory 
of the Vega expedition at least 
a small contribution from more 
southerly lands to vegetable palaeon- 
tology, a branch of knowledge to 
Avhicli our preceding Arctic expe- 
ditions yielded new additions of 
such importance through the fossil 
herbaria from luxuriant ancient 
forests which they brought to light 
from the ice-covered cliffs of Spitz- 
bergen and from the basalt-covered 
sandstones and schists of the Nour- 
soak Peninsula in Greenland, now 
so bleak. 

After our return from Mogi I 

made an excursion to the coal-mine 

at Takasami, situated on an island 

some kilometres from the town. 

Even here I succeeded in bringing together some further 

contributions to the former flora of the region. 

After the inhabitants of Nagasaki, too, had given us a grand 
pM'ting feast, at which speeches were spoken in Japanese, 
Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Russian, 
Danish, and Swedish, a proof of the mixture of nationalities 
which prevailed there, the Vc(ja again weighed anchor on the 
27th October, in order to continue lier voyage. We now left 
Japan to connnence in earnest our return, and on our departure 
we were saluted by the crews of two English gun-boats anchored 
in the harbour, the Hornet and the Si/lvia, manning the yai'ds 
and bulwarks. It was natural that the hour of departure, after 
fifteen months' absence from home, should be looked forward to 




FOSSII, ri.AN'l' FROM MOOt, 

Loaf of /Hlvm Kml-li, .Siob. 
jiliocena, Naih. 



XIX.] THE FUTURE OF JAPAN. 69.3 

with joy. But our joy was mixed with a regretful feeling that 
we were so soon compelled to leave — without the hope of ever 
returning- — the magnificent country and noble people among 
whom a development is now going on which probably will not 
only give a new awakening to the old cultured races of Eastern 
Asia, but will also prepare a new soil for European science, 
industry, and art. It is difficult to foresee what new undreamed- 
of blossoms and fruit this soil will yield. But the Europeans 
are perhaps much mistaken who believe that the question here 
is only that of clothing an Asiatic feudal state in a modern 
European dress. Rather the day appears to me to dawn of a 
time in which the countries round the Mediterranean of eastern 
Asia will come to play a great part in the further development 
of the human race. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Hong Kong and Canton — Stone-polishing Establishments at Canton — 
Political Relations in an English Colony — Treatment of the Natives — 
Voyage to Labuan — Coal Mines there — Excursion to the shore of 
Borneo — Malay Villages — Singapore — Voyage to Ceylon — Point de 
Galle — The Gem Mines at Ratnapoora — Visit to a Temple — Purchase 
of Manuscripts— The Population of Ceylon — Dr. Almquist's Excursion 
to the Interior of the Island. 

Some days after our arrival at Yokohama the Vega was 
removed to the dock at Yokosuka, there to be protected by 
coppering against the boring mussels of the warm seas, so 
injurious to the vessel's hull ; the opportunity being also taken 
advantage of by me to subject the vessel to some trifling repairs 
and alterations in the fitting up, which were desirable because 
during the remainder of our voyage we were to sail not in a cold 
but in a tropical climate. The work took somewhat longer 
time than was reckoned on, so that it was not until the 21st 
September that the Vega could leave the dock and return to 
Yokohama. It had originally been my intention to remain in 
Japan only so long as was necessary for the finishing of this 
work, during which time opportunity could be given to the 
officers and crew of the Vega to rest after the labours and 
sufferings of the long winter, to receive and answer letters from 
home, and to gather from the newspapers the most important 
occurrences that had taken place during our fourteen months' 
absence from the regions which are affected by what takes place 
in the world. But as appears from the foregoing narrative, the 
delay was longer than had been intended. This, indeed was 



694 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

caused in some degree by the difficulty of tearing ourselves 
away after only a few days' stay from a people so remarkable, so 
lovable, and so hospitable as the Japanese, and from a land so 
magnificently endowed by nature. Besides, when the Vega was 
again ready for sea, it was so near the tirae for the change of 
the monsoon, that it was not advisable, and would not have been 
attended with any saving of time, to sail immediately. For at 
that season furious storms are wont to rage in these seas, and 
the wind then prevailing is so unfavourable for sailing from 
Japan to the southward, that a vessel with the weak steam- 
power of the Vega cruising between Japan and Hong Kong 
in a head-wind might readily have lost the days saved by an 
earlier departure. On the other hand, in the end of October 
and the beginning of November we could, during our passage 
to Hong Kong, count on a fresh and always favourable breeze. 
This took place too, so that, leaving Nagasaki on the 27th 
October, we were able to anchor in the harbour of Hong Kong 
as early as the 2nd November. 

There was of course no prospect of being able to accomplish 
anything for the benefit of science during a few days' stay in 
a region which had been examined by naturalists innumerable 
times before, but I at all events touched at this harbour that I 
might meet the expressed wish of one of the members of the 
expedition not to leave eastern Asia without having, during the 
voyage of the Vega, seen something of the so much talked of 
" heavenly kingdom " so different from all other lands. 

For this purpose, however, Hong Kong is an unsuitable place. 
This rich and flourishing commercial town, which has been 
created by England's Chinese politics and opium trade, is a 
British colony with a European stamp, which has little to show 
of the original Chinese folk-life, although the principal part of 
its population consists of Chinese. But at the distance of a 
few hours by steamer from Hong Kong lies the large old 
commercial city of Canton, which, though it has long been open 
to Europeans, is still purely Chinese, with its peatstack-like 
architecture, its countless population, its temples, prisons, 
flower-junks, mandarins, pig-tailed street-boys, &c. Most of the 
members of the expedition made an excursion thither, and were 
rewarded with innumerable indescribable impressions from 
Chinese city life. We were everywhere received by the 
natives in a friendly way,^ and short as our visit was, it was 

1 Yet with one very laughable exception. I wished for zoological pur- 
poses to get one of the common Chinese rats, and with this object in view 
made inquiries through my interpreter at a shed in the street, where rats 
were said to be cooked for Chinese epicures. But scarcely had the question 
been put, when the old, grave host broke out in a furious storm of abuse, 
especially against the interpreter, who was overwhelmed with bitter 



XIX.] ORIENTAL POLISHING. 695 

yet sufficient to dissipate the erroneous impressions which a 
number of European authors have been pleased to give of the 
most populous nation. One soon saw that he has to do with 
an earnest and industrious people, who, indeed, apprehend much 
— virtue and vice, joy and sorrow — in quite a different way 
from us, but towards whom we, on that account, by no means 
have the right to assume the position of superiority which the 
European is so ready to claim towards coloured races. 

The greater portion of my short stay in Canton I employed 
in wandering about, carried in a sedan-chair- — horses cannot be 
used in the city itself — through the streets, which are partly 
covered and are lined with open shops, forming, undoubtedly, the 
most remarkable of the many remarkable things that are to be 
seen here. The recollection I have of these hours forms, as 
often happens when one sees much that is new at once, a 
variegated confusion in which I can now only with difficulty 
distinguish a connected picture or two. But even if the im- 
pressions were clearer and sharper it would be out of the 
question to occupy space with a statement of my own super- 
ficial observations- If any one wishes to acquire a knowledge 
of Chinese manners and customs, he will not want for books on 
the country, his studies will rather be impeded by their enormous 
number, and often enough by the inferior nature of their con- 
tents. Here I shall only touch upon a single subject, because 
it especially interested me as a mineralogist, namely, the 
stone-polishing works of Canton. 

It is natural that in a country so populous and rich as China, 
in which home and home life play so great a role, much money 
should be spent on ornaments. We might therefore have 
expected that precious stones cut and polished would be used 
here on a great scale, but from what I saw at Canton, the 
Chinese appear to set much less value on them than either the 
Hindoo or the European, It appears besides as if the Chinese 
still set greater value on stones with old "oriental polishing," 
i.e. with polished rounded surfaces, than on stones formed ac- 
cording to the mode of polishing now common in Europe with 
plane facets. Instead the Chinese have a great liking for pecu- 
liar, often very well executed, carvings in a great number of 
different kinds of stones, among which they set the greatest 
value on nephrite, or, as they themselves call it, " Yii." It is 
made into rings, bracelets, ornaments of all kinds, vases, small 
vessels for the table, &c. In Canton there are numerous lapi- 
daries and merchants, whose main business is to make and sell 
ornaments of this species of stone, which is often valued higher 

reproaches for helping a "foreign devil" to make a fool of his own 
countrj'men. All my protestations were in vain, and I ha(;l to go away 
with ray object imaccoinplislied. 



696 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

than true precious stones. It was long so important an article 
of commerce that the place where it was found formed the goal 
of special caravan roads which entered China by the Yii gate. 
Amber also appears to have a high value put upon it, especially 
pieces which inclose insects. Amber is not found in China, but 
is brought from Europe, is often fictitious, and contains large 
Chinese beetles with marks of the needles on which they have 
been impaled. Other less valuable minerals, native or foreign, 
are also used, among others, compact varieties of talc or soap- 
stone and of pyrophyllite. But works executed in these minerals 
do not fetch a price at all comparable to that of nephrite. In 
the same shop in which I purchased pieces of nephrite carefvdly 
placed in separate boxes, I found at the bottom of a dusty chest, 
along with pieces of quartz and old refuse of various kmds, large 
crystals, some of which were exceedingly well formed, of trans- 
lucent topaz. They were sold as quartz for a trifle. I bought 
besides two pieces of carved topaz, one of which was a large and 
very fine natural crystal, with a Chinese inscription engraved on 
its terminal surface, which when translated runs thus : " Literary 
studies confer honour and distinction and render a man suitable 
for the court." The other was a somewhat bluish inch-long 
crystal, at one end of which a human figure, perhaps some 
Buddhist saint, was sculptured. The polishing of stones is 
carried on as a home industry, principally in a special part of 
the town. The workshop is commonly at the side of a small 
sale counter, in a room on the ground-floor, open to the street. 
The cutting and polishing of the stones is done, as at home, 
Avith metal discs and emery or comminuted corundum, which 
is said to be found in large quantities in the neighbourhood 
of Canton. 

Large, commodious, w^ell fitted up, but in their exterior very 
unAvieldy river steamers, built after American designs, now run 
between Hong Kong and Canton. They are commanded by 
Europeans. The dietary on board is European, and exceedingly 
good. There are separate saloons for Europeans and Chinese. 
All over the poop and the after-saloon weapons are hung up so 
as to be at hand, in case the vessel should be attacked by 
pirates, or, as happened some years ago, a number of them 
should mix themselves up wdtli the Chinese passengers wath 
the intention of plundering the vessel. 

Hong Kong w^as ceded to England in consequence of the war 
of 1842. The then inconsiderable fishing village is now one of 
the most important commercial cities of the globe. The har- 
bour is spacious, aflbrding good anchorage, and is well protected 
by a number of large and small granite islands. The city is 
built on the largest of these on slopes which rise from tlie 
shore to-\vards the interior of the island. On the highest points 



XIX.] HONG KONG. 697 

the wealthiest foreign residents have built their summer houses 
which are surrounded by beautiful gardens. In winter they live 
in the city. We here met "vsdth a very gratifying reception both 
from the Governor, Mr. Pope Hennessy, and from the other in- 
habitants of the town. The former invited Captain Palander and 
me to live in the beautiful Governor's residence, gave a dinner, 
arranged a stately official reception in our honour, and pre- 
sented to the Expedition a fine collection of dried plants from 
the exceedingly well-kept botanical garden of the city, which is 
under the charge of Mr. Charles Ford ; the latter presented 
me with an address of welcome at a festive meeting in the 
City Hall, specially arranged for the purpose and numerously 
attended by the principal men of the to^^ni. The meeting was 
opened by the Chairman, Mr. Keswick, with a speech of wel- 
come, after which Mr. J. B. CoUGHTRlE read and presented the 
address, bound in red silk and beautifully illuminated in black, 
gold, and red, with 414 signatures, among which many were by 
Chinese. The address ended with a hearty congratulation to 
us all and a promise 'of a memorial of our visit to Hong Kong 
which should indicate the way in which the Vega expedition 
was appreciated there. Some time after our return home 
Palander and I received from members of the community of 
Hong Kong a splendid silver vase each. 

I here embraced with great interest the opportunity, which 
my coming in contact with the principal men of the place 
afforded, of getting a glance into the political relations which 
prevailed in this vigorous and promising colony. At first sight 
they appeared to be by no means satisfactory. Peace and 
unanimity evidently did not prevail ; for dissatisfaction with 
the Governor was loudly expressed by many of the Europeans 
settled in Hong Kong. He favoured, they said, the Chinese in 
an exceedingly partial way, and mitigated their punishments to 
such a degree that Hong Kong would soon become a place of 
refuge for all the robbers and thieves of Canton. At the time 
of our visit an instructive parliamentary debate on a small 
scale was proceeding in the Legislative Council of the city. 
The controversy was carried on with a certain bitterness, but 
with a proper observance of the parliamentary procedure cus- 
tomary in the mother country. The eloquent leader of the 
opposition had evidently, as is usual in such cases, the general 
feeling of the Europeans on his side. For they ajjpeared to be 
pretty well agreed that the only means of protecting themselves 
against the evil-doers from the great heavenly empire would be 
to punish them in an inhuman way when they were taken in 
the act. 

To an outsider it appeared, however, that the Governor not 
only had humanity and justice on his side, but also acted with 



698 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [CHAr. 

a true insight into the future. When he came to the colony 
the corporal punishments to which the Chinese were con- 
demned were exceeding barbarous, although mild in comparison 
with those common in China — a state of things which the op- 
position brought forward in defence of the severer punishments. 
Prisoners were repeatedly flogged with "the cat/' often with the 
result that they were attacked by incurable consumption ; 
they were prepared for the punishment by being subjected for 
some time to a starvation-diet of rice and water ; they were 
branded when they left the prison, &c. Proceeding on the view 
that the greatest security for a colony such as Hong Kong lies 
in the affection which is cherished for it by the numerous 
native population, the Governor had sought to protect it from 
unjust attacks by Europeans. Considering that too barbarous 
punishments are likely rather to promote than to deter from 
the commission of crimes, in consequence of the protection the 
criminal in such a case may reckon upon from sympathising 
fellow-creatures, and that mild punishments are the first con- 
dition of a good protective police, the Governor had diminished 
the floggings, forbidden the public infliction of the punishment, 
given a reprimand in cases where " by mistake " or by an 
evasion of the letter of the law extra strokes had been given 
to criminals, exchanged " the regulation cat " for the rattan, 
abolished the preliminary starvation-diet and the branding, 
improved the prisons, &c. All this was now loudly complained 
of by the European merchants, but was approved by the Chinese 
subjects in the colony, who were however dissuaded from making 
any contrary demonstrations. 

When we came afterwards to other English possessions, we 
found that the inhabitants were often more or less in conflict 
with the authorities, but nowhere was there anything to pre- 
vent the opposition from endeavouring to promote their views 
by public meetings, by addresses in newspapers and pamphlets. 
In this way a pretty active political life arises early, and this 
is probably one of the main conditions of the capacity of the 
English colonies for self-government, and of their vigour and 
influence on the surrounding country. 

It will in truth be highly interesting to see what influence 
will be exerted on the great neighbouring empire if Mr. 
Hennessy's politics with reference to the Chinese settled in 
Hong Kong be carried out, and they be converted into fellow- 
citizens conscious that they are protected by law in person and 
property, that they do not require to crawl in the dust before 
any authority, and that so long as they keep within the limits 
of the law they are quite safe from the oppressions of all officials, 
and in the enjoyment of all the rights and privileges which the 
English law confers upon the citizen. 



XIX.] POLITICAL LIFE AT HONG KONG. "' 699 

■ Many of the Europeans settled at Hong Kong were convinced 
that for another thousand years one would be justified in using 
the expression regarding China : " Thou art what thou wast, and 
thou wilt be what thou art." Others again stated that contact 
with Europeans at Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and 
the accounts given by the emigrants returning to China in 
thousands from California and Australia are by slow degrees 
changing the aspect of the world in the " heavenly empire," and 
thereby preparing for a revolution less violent, but as thorough 
as that which has recently taken place in Japan. If this comes 
about, China will be a state that must enter into the calculation 
when the affairs of the world are settled, and whose power will 
weigh very heavy in the scales, at least when the fate of Asia 
is concerned. At Hong Kong and Canton the report was 
current that the far-sighted Chancellor of the German Empire 
had taken this factor into calculation in settling his plans 
for the future. 

Already the Chinese took part in the European life. A 
number of Chinese names, as I have already said, were attached 
to the address that was presented to me; at the Governor's 
reception many stout, smiling heads provided with pigtails were 
seen ; and Chinese had taken part in the meetings at which 
the Governor's scheme of reform was under discussion. There 
have also existed in the country from time immemorial secret 
societies, which are said only to wait for a favourable opportunity 
to endeavour to link their fates to the new paths.^ The observa- 
tions that I made at Hong Kong and Canton are, however, too 
superficial for me to wish to detain my reader with these 
matters. I accordingly point to the numerous works on these 
cities published by authors who have lived there as many 
months or years as I have days, and proceed to sketch the 
continuation of the voyage of the Vega. 

Accompanied by the good wishes of many newly acquired 
friends, we left the harbour of Hong Kong on the morning of 
the 9th November. It was my original intention to steer our 
course to Manilla, but the loss of time during our long stay in 
Japan compelled me to give np that plan. The course was 
shaped, however, not directly for Singapore, but for Labuan, a 
small English possession on the north side of Borneo. Its 
northern extremity (the coal mine) lies in 5° 33' N.L. and 
115° 12' E.L. England took possession of Labuan on account 
of the coal-seams which are found there, which are of special 
importance on account of the situation of the island nearly 
in the midst of the large, numerous, and fertile islands of 
south-eastern Asia. It was the coal-seams too that attracted 

^ See on this subject W. A. Pickering, " Chinese Secret Societies " {Journal 
of the Straits Branch of the R. Asiatic Society ^ 1878, No. 1, pp. 63-84). 



700 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEOA. [chap. 

me to the place. For I wislied to see whether I could not, 
in the neighbourhood of the equator itself, collect valuable 
contributions towards ascertaining the nature of the former 
equatorial climate. 

We at first made rapid progress, thanks to a fresh and 
favourable monsoon wind. But "when we reached the so-called 
belt of calms, the wind ceased completely, and we had now to 
avail ourselves of steam, which, in consequence of the low 
power of the Vegas engine and a strong counter current, carried 
us forward so slowly that it was not until the 17th November 
that we could anchor in the harbour of Labuan. 

The largest of the islands belonging to the colony has, with 
a pretty considerable breadth, a length of 10' from N.E. to S.W. 
It is inhabited by some thousands (3,300 in 1863) of Chinese 
and Malays, together with a few Englishmen, who are either 
crown officials or employed at the coal mine. The north part 
of the island has a height of 140 metres above the sea, but 
towards the south the land sinks to an extensive sandy plain, 
closely overgrown with bushy thickets and traversed by low 
marshes. Most of the inhabitants live along the shore of the 
harbour which bears the now, or perhaps only for the present, 
indispensable name for English colonies (which on that account 
conveys little information) of Victoria. The Governor's fine 
residence lies at a little distance from the harbour town in the 
interior of the island, the coal mine on its north side. At the 
time of our visit the coal company had recently gone into 
liquidation, and work had therefore been stopped at the mine, 
but it was hoped that it would soon be resumed. The sandy 
plain is of little fertility in comparison with the neighbouring 
tropical lands. It had recently been burned, and was therefore 
for the most part covered only with bushes, among which stems 
of high, dried-up, half-burned trees raised themselves, giving to 
the landscape a resemblance to a northern forest devastated by 
an accidental fire. In consequence of the fire which had thus 
passed over the island the plain which, when looked at from a 
distance appeared to be completely even, was seen everywhere 
to be studded with crater-formed depressions in the sand, quite 
similar to the os-pits in the osar of Scandinavia.^ On the north 
side there was sandstone rock rising from the sea with a steep 
slope six to fifteen metres high. Here tropical nature appeared 
in all its luxuriance, principally in the valleys which the small 
streams had excavated in the sandstone strata. 

The coal mine is sunk on coal-seams, which come to the surface 
on the north side of the island. The seams, according to the 
information I received on the spot, are four in number, with a 

^ Concerning their formation and origin see a paper by K. Nordenskiold 
in Qfversigt af Vei.-ahad. Fork. 1870, p. 29. 



XIX.] THE COAL-SEAMS OF LABUAN. 701 

thickness of 3'3, 0'9, 0'4 and I'O metre. They dip at an angle 
of 30° towards the horizon, and are separated from each other by 
strata of clay and hard sandstone, which together have a thickness 
of about fifty metres. Above the uppermost coal-seam there are 
besides very thick strata of black clay-slate, white hard sandstone 
with bands of clay, loose sandstone, sandstone mixed with coal, 
and finally considerable layers of clay-slate and sandstone, which 
contain fossil marine Crustacea, resembling those of the present 
time. The strata which lie between or in the immediate 
neighbourhood of the coal seams do not contain any other fossils 
than those vegetable remains, which are to be described farther 
on. Thirty kilometres south of the mine a nearly vertical coal- 
seam comes to the surface near the harbour, probably belonging 
to a much older period than that referred to above ; and out in 
the sea, eighteen kilometres from the shore north of the harbour, 
petroleum rises from the sea-bottom. The manager of the mine 
supposed from this that the coal-seams came to the surface again 
at this place. The coal-seams of Labuan are besides, notwith- 
standing their position in the middle of an enormous, circular, 
volcanic chain, remarkably free from faults, which shows that 
the region, during the immense time which has elapsed since 
these strata have been dej)osited, has been protected from 
earthquakes. Even now, according to Wallace, earthquakes 
are scarcely kno%vn in this part of Borneo. 

From what has been stated above we may conclude that the 
coal, sand, and clay strata were deposited in a valley-depression 
occupied by luxuriant marshy grounds, cut off from the sea, in 
the extensive land which formly occupied considerable spaces 
of the sea between the Australian Islands and the continent 
of Asia, A similar state of things must besides have j)revailed 
over a considerable portion of Borneo. On that island there are 
coal-seams under approximately similar circumstances to those 
on Labuan. So far as I know, however, they have not hitherto 
been closely examined with respect to vegetable paleontology. 

At Labuan fossil plants are found, though very sparingly, 
imbedded in balls of clay ironstone from strata above the two 
lowermost coal-seams. The upper coal-seams are besides ex- 
ceedingly rich in resin, which crosses the coal in large veins. 
From the thickness and conversion into a hard sandstone of the 
layers of sand lying between and above the coal-seams we may 
conclude that a very long time, probably hundreds of thousands 
or millions of years have passed since these coal-seams were 
formed. They also belong to a quite recent period, during which 
the vegetation in these regions varied perhaps only to a slight 
extent from that of the present time. It is, however, too earl}- 
to express one's self on this subject, before the fossils which we 
brought home have been examined by Dr. Nathorst. ' 



702 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Coal mining was stopped for the time, but orders were 
expected by every post to resume work. The road between the 
mine and the harbour town was at all events pretty well kept, 
and Mr. CoOKE, one of the directors of the company, still lived 
at the place. He showed me all possible hospitality during the 
time I remained on the north side of the island for the purpose 
of collecting fossils. The rest of the time I was the guest of the 
acting Governor, Mr. Treacher, a young and amiable man, who 
showed me several collections in natural history from Labuan 
and the neighbouring parts of Borneo, and after our return to 
Europe sent me a collection of leaves and fruit of the kinds of 
trees which now grow on the island. I expect that this 
collection will be very instructive in the study of the fossil plants 
we brought home with us. 

At the steep shore banks on the north coast very fine sections 
of the sandstone strata, which lie under and above the coal, are 
visible. While I went along the shore in order to examine 
these, I visited some Malay huts built on poles. They were 
surrounded at flood tide by water, at ebb by the dry beach, bare 
of all vegetation. In order to get inside these huts one must 
climb a ladder two to two and a half metres high, standing 
towards the sea. The houses have the same appearance as a 
warehouse by the seaside at home, and are built very slightly. 
The floor consisted of a few rattling bamboo splints lying loose, 
and so thin that I feared they would give way when I stepped 
upon them, The household articles consisted only of some mats 
and a pair of cooking vessels. I saw no fireplace ; probably fire 
was lighted on the beach. I could see no reason why this place 
should be chosen as a dwelling in preference to the neighbouring 
shore with its luxuriant vegetation, which at the same time was 
not at all swampy, unless it was for the coolness which arises 
from the airy situation on the beach, and the protection which 
the poles give from the thousands of crawling animals which 
swarm in the grassy meadows of tropical regions. It is 
probable also that the mosquitos are less troublesome along 
the sea-shore than farther into the interior of the country. 

Some of my companions saw similar huts during an excursion, 
which they undertook in the steam launch, to the mouth of 
a large river debouching on the neighbouring coast of Borneo. 
Eegarding this excursion Dr, Stuxberg gives the following 
report : ^ 

" On the 19th November Palander, Bove, and I, together with 
two men, undertook an excursion in the steam launch of the 
Vega to the river Kalias debouching right opposite to Labuan. 
We started at dawn, a little after six o'clock. The course was 
shaped first north of Pappan Island, then between the many 



XIX.], EXCUESION TO THE KALIAS. 703 

shoals that lie between it and the considerably larger Daat 
Island, and finally south of the latter island. 

" Pappan Island is a small beautiful island, clothed down to 
high-water mark with a dark green primeval forest. On Daat 
Island, on the contrary, the primeval forest on the east side has 
been cut down, and has given place to a new plantation of cocoa- 
nut trees, the work of a former physician on Labuan, which 
yields its present owner a considerable revenue. 

" We had no little difficulty in finding a way over the sandy 
bar, which is deposited in front of the river mouth at a distance 
of a nautical mile and a half to three miles from the coast 
of Borneo. After several attempts in the course of an hour 
we at last succeeded in finding the deep channel which leads to 
the river. It runs close to the mainland on the north side, from 
Kalias Point to the river mouth proper. At the bar the depth 
was only a metre, in the deep channel, it varied between 3"5 and 
7 metres, in the river mouth it was fourteen to eighteen metres 
and sometimes more. 

" On the south side of the tongue of land, which projects north 
of the mouth of the Kalias, were found two Malay villages, 
whose inhabitants appeared to view our passage up the river 
with curious glances. A crowd of half or wholly naked children 
began a race along the shore, as soon as they set eyes upon the 
fast steam launch, probably in order to keep us in sight as long 
as possible. We now had deep water and steamed up the river 
without delay. The longed-for visit to some of the Malay 
villages we thus reserved till our return. 

" We steamed about ten or twelve English miles up one of the 
many winding river arms, when the limited depth compelled us 
to turn. The vegetation on the mainland, as on the shores of 
the islands lying near the river-mouth, was everywhere so close 
that it was nearly impossible to find a place where we could 
land ; everywhere there was the impenetrable primeval forest. 
Next the mouth of the river this consisted of tall, shady broad- 
leaved trees, which all had dark green, lustrous, large leaves. 
Some were in flower, others bore fruit. The greater nvimber 
consisted of fig trees, whose numerous air-roots twining close 
on each other formed an impenetrable fence at the river bank. 
These air-root-bearing trees play an important role in increasing 
the area of the land and diminishing that of the water. They 
send their strong air-roots from the branches and stem far out 
into the water, and when the roots have reached the bottom, 
and pushed their way into the mud, they make, by the close 
basket-work they form, an excellent binding medium for all the 
new mud which the river carries with it from the higher grou.nd 
in the interior. It has struck me that the air-root-bearing trees 
form one of the most important means for the rapid increase of 



704 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

the alluvial land on Borneo. Farther up the river there com- 
menced large stretches of a species of palm, which with its 
somewhat lighter green and its long sheath-fornied leaves was 
sharply distinguished from the rest of the forest. Sometimes 
the banks on one side were covered with palms only, on the 
other with fig-trees only. The palm jungles were not so 
impenetrable as the fig-tree thickets ; the latter preferred the 
more swampy hollows, while the palms on the other hand grew 
on the more sandy and less marshy places. Of herbs and 
underwood there was nowhere any trac^. 

" During the river voyage we saw now and then single green- 
coloured kingfishers flying about, and a honeysucker or two, but 
they were not nearly so numerous as might have been expected 
in this purely tropical zone. We saw some apes leaping in pairs 
among the trees, and Palander succeeded in shooting a male. 
Alligators from one to one and a half metre in length, frightened 
by the noise of the propeller, throw themselves suddenly into the 
water. Small land lizards with web-feet jumped forward with 
surprising rapidity on the water near the banks. This was all 
we saw of the higher animals. 

" After a run of two hours, during which we examined the 
banks carefully in order to find a landing place, we lay to at the 
best possible place for seeing what the lower fauna had to offer. 
It was no easy matter to get to land. The ground was so muddy 
that we sank to the knees, and could make our way through the 
wood only by walking on an intermediate layer of palm leaves 
and fallen branches. The search for evertebrates did not yield 
very much. A half-score mollusca, among them a very re- 
markable naked leech of quite the same colour-marking and 
raggedness as the bark of tree on which it lived, was all that 
we could find here. It struck me as very peculiar not to find 
a single insect group represented. The remarkable poverty in 
animals must be ascribed, I believe, to the complete absence 
of herbs and underwood. Animal life was as poor as vegetation 
was luxuriant and various in different places. Over the landscape 
a peculiar quietness and stillness rested. 

" During our return we visited one of the two Malay villages 
mentioned above. It consisted of ten different houses, which 
were built on tall and stout poles out in the water at the mouth 
of' the river, about six to ten metres from the shore. All the 
houses were built on a common large platform of thick bamboo, 
which was about a man's height above the water. At right 
angles to the beach there floated long beams, one end being 
connected with the land, while the other was anchored close to 
the platform. From this anchored end a plank rose at a steep 
angle to the platform. Communication with land was kept up in 
this way. The houses were nearly all quadrangular, and contained 



XIX.] VISIT TO MALAY VILLAGES. 705 

a single room, had raised, not flat roofs, and were j)rovided at 
one of the shorter sides, near one corner, with a high rectangular 
door opening, which certainly was not intended to be closed, and 
on one of the long sides with a square window-opening. The 
building material was bamboo, from eight to eleven centimetres 
in thickness, mostly whole, but sometimes cleft. The roof had 
a thin layer of palm leaves upon it to keep out the rain. The 
house in its entirety resembled a cage of spills to which the 
least puff of wind had always free entrance. The floor bent 
and yielded much, and at the same time was so weak that one 
could not walk upon it without being afraid of falling through. 
One half, right opposite the door opening, was overlaid with a 
thin mat of some plant ; it was evidently the sleeping place of 
the family. Some pieces of cloth was all the clothing we could 
discover. Of household articles there was scarcely any trace. 
Nor were there any weapons, arrows, or bows. The fireplace 
was in one corner of the room ; it consisted of an immense ash- 
heap on some low stones. Beside it stood a rather dirty iron 
pot. All refuse from meals, bones and mollusc-shells, had been 
thrown into the water under the floor ; there lay now a regular 
culture-layer, a couple of feet higher than the surrounding 
sea-bottom, consisting for the most part of mussel shells. The 
floor of the room was very dirty and black ; it looked as if it 
had never been in contact with a drop of water. The interior 
of the whole house struck one as being as poor and wretched as 
that of a Chukch tent. Its inhabitants appeared scarcely to own 
more than they stood or walked in, i.e. for every person a large 
piece of cloth round the waist. Small boats lay moored to the 
platform. They were nothing else than tree-stems hollowed 
out, without any separate planks at the sides, at most two to 
two and a half metres long, and capable of carrying only two 
men. We had met such a boat a little way up the river, rowed 
by two youths, and laden with palm-leaves ; it was not more 
than five to eight centimetres above the water, and appeared as 
if it would capsize with the least indiscreet movement on the 
part of the boatmen. Some dogs of middle size went about 
loose on the platform ; they were at first shy and suspicious 
of us, and growled a little, but soon allowed themselves to be 
caressed. 

" Of the natives, the Malays, unfortunately we saw at close 
quarters only some middle-aged men. When we approached the 
long floating beams which led to the platform, the women and 
children fled precipitately out of the nearest houses, and by the 
time we got to the platform, they had fortified themselves in a 
distant house, where they sat motionless and cast curious glances 
at us through a hole. The children showed their fear of us by 
loud crying, kept up the whole time. When we attempted to 

z z 



706 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chav. 

approach the fugitives, they hastened farther away. We won 
their favour with some cigarettes, which Palander distributed 
among them, and with which they were evidently dehghted. 
Tliey liad a serious, reserved, perhaps rather indifferent appear- 
ance. A physiognomist would perhaps have had difficulty in 
saying whether their countenances expressed ferocity, determi- 
nation, or indifference. It appeared as if it would not be 
easy to bring forth a look of mirth .or gladness on their faces. 

" At the Malay villages which we visited, some Chinese had a 
sago plantation. With some Malays as workmen in their 
service, they were now employed in loading a vessel of light 
draught with sago meal, of which they appeared to have a large 
quantity in store. Another vessel had just taken on board its 
cargo and was starting. The Chinese here made the same favour- 
able impression on me as their countrymen, whom I had seen 
before in Japan and Hong Kong, and whom I was afterwards to 
see at Singapore — the impression of an exceedingly industrious, 
thriving, contented, and cleanly race." 

Labuan strikes me as a very suitable starting-point for a 
naturalist who may wish to explore Borneo. Surrounded by 
Europeans, but undisturbed by the distractions of a large city, 
he would have an opportunity of accustoming himself to the 
climate, which, though rather warm for a dweller in the North, 
is by no means unhealthy, to get acquainted with the manners 
and customs of the natives, to acquire a knowledge of the com- 
monest forms of the luxuriant nature, which would otherwise be 
apt to overwhelm the northern naturalist ; in a word, to make 
such preparations for the journey as are necessary to secure its 
success. This region of Borneo appears to be one of the least 
known parts of the Indian Archipelago, and one .need not go 
far from the coast to come to places which are never visited 
by Europeans. Labuan itself and its immediate neighbourhood 
have much that is interesting to offer to the observer, and from 
thence short excursions may be made with ease and without 
excessive cost to the territory of the Sultan of Bruni, who is 
favourable to foreigners, and to the mountain Kini Balu, near the 
northern extremity of Borneo, which is 4,175 metres high, and 
visible from Labuan. When, before our arrival at Japan, I 
arranged the plan of our voyage home, I included in it a visit 
to this mountain, at whose summit a comparatively severe 
climate must prevail, and whose flora and fauna, therefore, not- 
withstanding its equatorial position, must offer many points of 
comparison with those of the lands of the north. But when I 
was told that the excursion would require weeks, I had to give 
it up. 

On the 12th November, the Vega again weighed anchor to 



XIX.] BORNEO. 707 

continue her voyage by Singapore to Point de Galle in Ceylon. 
Between Labuan and Singapore our progress was but slow, in 
consequence of the calm which, as might have been foreseen , 
prevailed in the sea west of Borneo. 

Singapore is situated exactly halfway, when a vessel, starting 
from Sweden, circumnavigates Asia and Europe. We staid here 
from the 28th November to the 4th December, very hospitably 
received by the citizens of the town, both European and Asiatic, 
who seemed to vie with the inhabitants of Hong Kong in 
enthusiasm for the voyage of the Vega. A Babel-like confusion 
of speech prevails in the town from the men of so many different 
nationalities who live here : Chinese, Malays, Klings, Bengalees, 
Parsees, Singhalese, Negroes, Arabs, &c. But our stay was all 
too short for independent studies of the customs and mode of 
life of these different races, or of the rich vegetable and animal 
worlds in the neighbourhood of the town. I must refer those 
who are interested in these subjects to previous descriptions of 
that region, and to the abundant contributions to a knowledge 
of it which have been published by the Straits Branch of 
the Asiatic Society, which was founded here on the 4th 
November, 1877. 

We arrived at Galle on the 15th December, having during 
our passage from Singapore had a pretty steady and favourable 
monsoon. While sailing through the Straits of Malacca strong 
ball-lightning was often seen a little after sunset. The electrical 
discharges appeared to go on principally from the mountain 
heights on both sides of the Straits. 

I allowed the Vega to remain in the harbour of Point de 
Galle, partly to wait for the mail, partly to give Dr. Almquist 
an opportunity of collecting lichens on some of the high moun- 
tain summits in the interior of the island, and Dr. Kjellman 
of examining its algae, while I myself would have time to 
visit the famous gem-diggings of Ceylon. The return was as 
good as could have been expected considering our short stay 
at the place. Dr. Almquist's collection of lichens from the 
highest mountain of Ceylon, Pedrotalagalla, 2,500 metres high, 
was very large ; Kjellman, by the help of a diver, made a not 
inconsiderable collection of algse from the neighbourhood of the 
harbour ; and from an excursion which I undertook in company 
with Mr. Alexander C. Dixon, of Colombo, to Ratnapoora, 
the town of gems, where we were received with special kindness 
by Mr. Colin Murray, assistant government agent, I brought 
home a fine collection of the minerals of Ceylon. 

Precious stones occur in Ceylon mainly in sand beds, especially 
at places where streams of water have flowed which have rolled, 
crumbled down, and washed away a large part of the softer 
constituents of the sand, so that a gravel has been left remaining 

z z 2 



708 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xix. 

which contains considerably more of the harder precious stone 
layer than the original sandy strata, or the rock from which they 
originated. Where this natural washing ends, the gem collector 
begins. He searches for a suitable valley, digs down a greater 
or less depth from the surface to the layer of clay mixed with 
coarse sand resting on the rock, which experience has taught 
him to contain gems.^ At the washings which I saw, the 
clayey gravel was taken out of this layer and laid by the side of 
the hole until three or four cubic metres of it were collected. 
It was then carried, in shallow, bowl-formed baskets from half 
a metre to a metre in diameter, to a neighbouring river, where 
it was washed until all the clay was carried away from the sand. 
The gems were then picked out, a person with a glance of 
the eye examining the wet surface of the sand and collecting 
whatever ;had more or less appearance of a precious stone. He 
then skimmed away with the palm of the hand the upper stratum 
of sand, and went on in the same way with that below it until 
the whole mass was examined. The certainty with which he 
judged in a moment whether there was anything of value among 
the many thousand grains of sand was wonderful. I endeavoured 
in a very considerable heap of the gravel thus hastily examined, 
to find a single small piece of precious stone which had escaped 
the glance of the examiner, but without success. 

The yield is very variable, sometimes abundant, sometimes 
very small, and though precious stones found in Ceylon are 
yearly sold for large sums, the industry on the whole is 
unprofitable, although now and then a favourite of fortune has 
been enriched by it. The English authorities, therefore, with 
full justification, consider it demoralising and unfavourable to 
the development of the otherwise abundant natural resources 
of the region. For the numerous loose population devotes itself 
rather to the easy search for precious stones, which is as exciting 

1 Emerson Tennent says on the subject : — The gem collectors penetrate 
through the recent strata of gravel to the depth of from ten to twenty 
feet in order to reach a lower deposit, distinguished by the name of Nellan, 
in which the objects of their search are found. This is of so early a 
formation that it underlies the present beds of rivers, and is generally 
separated from them or from the superincumbent gravel by a hard crust 
(called Kadua), a few inches in thickness, and so consolidated as to have 
somewhat the appearance of laterite or sun-burnt brick. The nellan is for 
the most part horizontal, but occasionally it is raised into an incline as it 
approaches the base of the hills. It appears to have been deposited pre- 
vious to the eruption of the basalt, on which in some places it reclines, 
and to have undergone some alteration from the contact. It consists of 
water-worn pebbles firmly imbedded in clay, and occasionally there occur 
large lumps of granite and gneiss, in the hollows under Avhicb, as well as 
in " pockets '' in the clay (which from their shape the natives denominate 
" elephants' footsteps "), gems are frequently found in groups, as if washed 
in by the current. (E. Tennent, Ceylon. London, 1860, i. p. 34.) 




GEM DIGGINGS AT RATNAPOORA. 



710 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

as play, than to the severer but surer labours of agriculture, and 
when at any time a rich find is made, it is speedily squandered, 
without a thought of saving for the times when the yield is 
little or nothing. A large number of the precious stones are 
polished at special polishing places at Ratnapoora, but the work 
is very bad, so that the stones which come into the market are 
often irregular, and have uneven, curved, ill-polished surfaces. 
Most of them perhaps are sold in the Eastern and Western 
Indian peninsulas and other parts of Asia, but many are 
also exported to Europe. The precious stones which are 
principally found at Ratnapoora, consist of sapphires, com- 
monly blue, but sometimes yellow or violet, sometimes even 
completely colourless. In the last case they have a lustre 
resembling that of the diamond.^ Rubies I saw here only in 
limited numbers. 

The precious stones occur in nearly every river valley which 
runs from the mountain heights in the interior of the island 
down to the low land. According to a statement by 
Mr. Tennent (i. p. 33), the river-sand at many places contains 
so much of the harder minerals that it may be used directly 
for the polishing of other stones. The same writer, or more 
correctly Dr. Gygax, who appears to have written the rather 
scanty mineralogical contributions to Tennent's famous work, 
states that a more abundant yield ought to be obtained by 
working in the solid rock than by the usual method. This idea 
is completely opposed to the experience of mineralogy. The 
finest gems, the largest gold nuggets, as is well known, are 
never, or almost never, found in solid rock, but in loose earthy 
layers. In such layers in Ceylon the abundance of precious 
stones, that is to say, of minerals which are hard, translucent, 
and strongly lustrous, is very great, and enormous sums would 
be obtained if we could add up the value of the mass of 
precious stones which have been found here for thousands of 
years back. Already Marco Polo says of Ceylon : " In ista 
insula nascuntur boni et nobiles rubini et non nascuntur in 
aliquo loco plus. Et hie nascuntur zafiri et topazii, ametisti, 
et aliquse alise petrse pretiosse, et rex istius insulas habet 
pulcriorem rubinum de mundo." 

But some one perhaps will ask, where is the mother-rock of 
all these treasures in the soil of Ceylon ? The question is 
easily answered. All these minerals have once been imbedded 
in the granitic gneiss, which is the principal rock of the 
region. 

In speaking of granite or gneiss in southern lands, or at least 

^ Diamonds are wanting in Ceylon. And neither gold nor platinum 
appears to occur in noteworthy quantity in the gem gravel. 



XIX.] GEOLOGICAL FOEMATION OF THE COUNTEY. 711 

in the southern lands we now visited, I must, in the first place, 
point out that these rocks next the surface of the earth in the 
south have a much greater resemblance to strata of sand, gravel, 
and clay than to our granite or gneiss rocks, the type of what 
is lasting, hard, and unchangeable. The high coast hills, which 
surround the Inland Sea of Japan, resemble, when seen from 
the sea, ridges of sand (osaJr) with sides partly clothed with 
wood, partly sandy slopes of a light yellow colour, covered by 
no vegetation. On a closer examination, however, we find that 
the supposed sandy ridges consist of weathered granitic rocks, 
in which all possible intermediate stages may be seen between 
the solid rock and the loose sand. The sand is not stratified, 
and contains large, loose, rounded blocks in situ, completely 
resembling the erratic blocks in Sweden, although with a more 
rugged surface. The boundary between the unweathered 
granite and that which has been converted into sand is often 
so sharp that a stroke of the hammer separates the crust of 
granitic sand from the granite blocks. They have an almost 
fresh surface, and a couple of millimetres within the boundary 
the rock is quite unaltered. No formation of clay takes place, 
and the alteration to which the rocks are subjected therefore 
consists in a crumbling or formation of sand, and not, or at 
least only to a very small extent, in a chemical change. Even 
at Hong Kong the principal rock consisted of granite. Here 
too the surface of the granite rock was quite altered to a very 
considerable depth, not however to sand, but to a fine, often 
reddish, clay, thus in quite a different way from that on the 
coast of the Inland Sea of Japan. Here too one could at many 
places follow completely the change of the hard granite mass 
to a clay which still lay in situ, but without its being possible 
to draw so sharp a boundary between the primitive rock and 
the newly-formed loose earthy layers as at the first-named 
place. We had opportunities of observing a similar crumbling 
down of the hard granite at every road-section between Galle, 
Colombo, and Ratnapoora, with the difference that the granite 
and gneiss here crumbled down to a coarse sand, which was 
again bound together by newly-formed hydrated jDeroxide of 
iron to a peculiar porous sandstone, called by the natives 
cahook. This sandstone forms the layer lying next the rock in 
nearly all the hills on that part of the island which we visited. 
It evidently belongs to an earlier geological period than the 
Quaternary, for it is older than the recent formation of valleys 
and rivers. The cahook often contains large, rounded, un- 
weathered granite blocks, quite resembling the rolled-stone 
blocks in Sweden. In this way there arise at places where the 
cdbook stratum has again been broken up and washed away by 
currents of water, formations which are so bewilderingly like 



712 THE VOYAGE OP THE VEGA. [chap. 

the ridges (osar) and hills with erratic blocks in Sweden and 
Finland that I was astonished when I saw them. I was com- 
pelled to resort to the evidence of the palms to convince myself 
that it was not an illusion which unrolled before me the well- 
known contours from the downs of my native land. An accurate 
study of the sandy hills on the Inland Sea of Japan, of the clay 
cliffs of Hong Kong, and the cabooh of Ceylon would certainly 
yield very unexpected contributions to an explanation of the 
way in which the sand and rolled-stone osar of Scandinavia 
have first arisen. It would show that much which the Swedish 
geologists still consider to be glacial gravel transported by water 
and ice, is only the product of a process of weathering or, more 
correctly, falling asunder, which has gone on in Sweden also on 
an enormous scale. Even a portion of our Quaternary clays 
have perhaps had a similar origin, and we find here a simple 
explanation of the important circumstance, which is not sufii- 
ciently attended to by our geologists, that often all the erratic 
blocks at a place are of the same kind, and resemble in their 
nature the underlying or neighbouring rocks. 

It is this weathering process which has originated the gem 
sand of Ceylon. Precious stones have been found disseminated 
in limited numbers in the granite converted into cdbook. In 
weathering, the difficultly decomposable precious stones have 
not been attacked, or attacked only to a limited extent. They 
have therefore retained their original form and hardness. 
When in the course of thousands of j^ears streams of water 
have flowed over the layers of cabook, their soft, already half- 
weathered constituents have been for the most parb changed 
into a fine mud, and as such washed away, while the hard gems 
have only been inconsiderably rounded and little diminished in 
size. The current of water therefore has not been able to wash 
them far away from the place where they were originally im- 
bedded in the rock, and we now find them collected in the 
gravel-bed, resting for the most part on the fundamental rock 
which the stream has left behind, and which afterwards, when 
the water has changed its course, has been again covered by 
new layers of mud, clay, and sand. It is this gravel-bed which 
the natives call nellan, and from which they chiefly get their 
treasures of precious stones. 

Of all the kinds of stones which are used as ornaments there 
are both noble and common varieties, without there being any 
perceptible difference in their chemical composition. The most 
skilful chemist would thus have difficulty in finding in their 
chemical composition the least difference between corundum and 
sapphire or ruby, between common beryl and emerald, between 
the precious and the common topaz, between the hyacinth and 
the common zircon, between precious and common spinel ; and 



XIX.] COMMON AND PRECIOUS STONES. 713 

every mineralogist knows that there are innumerable inter- 
mediate stages between these minerals which are so dissimilar 
though absolutely identical in composition. This gave the old 
naturalists occasion to speak of ripe and unripe precious stones. 
They said that in order to ripen precious stones the heat of the 
south was required. This transference of well-known circum- 
stances from the vegetable to the mineral kingdom is certainly 
without justification. It points however to a remarkable and 
hitherto unexplained circumstance, namely, that the occurrence 
of precious stones is, with few exceptions, confined to southern 
regions.^ Diamonds are found in noteworthy number only in 
India, Borneo, Brazil, and the Transvaal. Tropical America is 
the home-land of the emerald, Brazil of the topaz, Ceylon of 
the sapphire and the hyacinth, Pegu of the ruby, and Persia of 
the turquoise. With the exception of the diamond the same 
stones are found also in the north, but in a common form. 
Thus common sapphire (corundum) is found in Gellivare iron 
ore so plentifully that the ore from certain openings is difiicult 
to smelt. Common topaz is found in masses by the hundred- 
weight in the neighbourhood of Falun ; common emerald is 
found in thick crystals several feet in length in felspar quarries, 
in Roslagen, and in Tammela and Kisko parishes in Finland ; 
common spinel occurs abundantly in Aker limestone quarry; 
common zircon at Brevig in Norway, and turquoise-like but 
badly coloured stones at Vestana in Skane. True precious 
stones, on the other hand, are not found at any of these places. 
Another remarkable fact in connection with precious stones is 
that most of those that come into the market are not found in 
the solid rock, but as loose grains in sand-beds. True jewel 
mines are few, unproductive, and easily exhausted. From this 
one would be inclined to suppose that jjrecious stones actually 
undergo an ennobling process in the warm soil of the south. 

During the excursion I undertook from Galle to Batnapoora, I 
visited a number of temples in order to procure Pali, Singhalese, 
and Sanscrit manuscripts ; and I put myself in communication 
with various natives who were supposed to possess such manu- 
scripts. They are now very difiicult to get at, and the collection 
I made was not very large. The books which the temples 
wished to dispose of have long ago been eagerly brought 
up by private collectors or handed over to public museums, 
for example, to the Ceylon Government Oriental Library 



1 The only considerable exceptions from this are two localities for pre- 
cious stones in Southern Siberia and the occurrence of precious opal in 
Hungary. The latter, however, in consequence of defective hardness 
and translucency, can scarcely be reckoned among the true precious 
stones. 



714 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cHAr. 

established at Colombo.^ The collector who remains a consider- 
able time in the region, may however be able to reap a rich after- 
harvest, less of the classical works preserved in the temples 
than of the smaller popular writings in the hands of private 
persons. 

We see in Ceylon innumerable descendants of the races 
who repeatedly subdued larger or smaller portions of the island, 
or carried on traffic there, as Moormen (Arabs), Hindoos, Jews, 
Portuguese, Dutchmen, Englishmen, &c., but the main body of 
the people at all events varies very little, and still consists of 
the two allied races, Tamils and Singhalese, who for thousands 
of years back have been settled here. The colour of their 
skin is very dark, almost black, their hair is not woolly, their 
features are regular, and their build is exceedingly fine. The 
children especially, who, while they are small, often go completely 
naked, with their regular features, their large eyes, and fresh 
plump bodies, are veritable types of beauty, and the same holds 
true of most of the youths. Instead of buying in one of the 
capitals of Europe the right to draw models, often enough with 
forms which leave much to desire, and which must be used 
without distinction for Greek or Northern divinities, for heroes 
or savants of the present or former times, an artist ought to 
make tours of study to the lands of the south, where man does 
not need to protect himself from the cold with clothes, and 
where accordingly nakedness is the rule, at least among the 
poorer classes. The dress which is worn here is commonl}^ 
convenient and tasteful. Among the Singhalese it consists of a 
piece of cloth wound round the middle, which hangs down to 
the knees. The men, who still prefer the convenient national 
dress to the European, go with the upper part of the body bare. 
The long hair is held together with a comb which goes right 
over the head, and among the rich has a large four-cornered 
projection at the crown. The women protect the upper part 
of the body with a thin cotton jacket. The priests wear a 
yellow piece of cloth diagonally over one shoulder. The naked 

^ The Catalogue of Pali, Singhalese, and Sanscrit Manuscripts in the 
Ceylon Government Oriental Library, Colombo, 1876, includes : — 

41 Buddhist canonical books. 
71 Other religious writings. 
25 Historical works, traditions. 
29 Philological works. 
16 Literary works. 
6 Works on Medicine, Astronomy, &c. 

According to Emerson Tennent (i. p. 515), the Eev. R. Spence Hardy has 
in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Asiatic Society for 1848 given 
the titles of 467 works in Pali, Sanskrit, and Elu, collected by himself 
during his residence in Ceylon. Of these about eighty are in Sanskrit, 150 
in Elu or Singhalese, and the remainder in Pali. 



XIX.] TEMPLES IN CEYLON. 715 

children are ornamented with metal bracelets and with a metal 
chain round the waist, from which a little plate hangs down 
between the legs. This plate is often of silver or gold, and is 
looked upon as an amulet. 

The huts of the working men are in general very small, built 
of earth or cahook-hricks, and are rather to be considered as sheds 
for protection from the rain and sunshine than as houses in the 
European sense. The richer Singhalese live in extensive 
" verandas " which are almost open, and are divided into rooms 
by thin panels, resembling in this respect the Japanese houses. 
The Japanese genius for ornament, their excellent taste and 
skill in execution, are however wanting here, but it must also 
be admitted that in these respects the Japanese stand first 
among all the peoples of the earth. 

In the seaport towns the Singhalese are insufferable by their 
begging, their loquacity, and the unpleasant custom they have of 
asking up to ten times as much, while making a bargain, as they 
are pleased to accept in the end. In the interior of the country 
the state of things in this respect is much better. 

Among the temples which I visited in order to procure Pali 
books was the so-called "devil's" temple at Hatnapoora, the 
stateliest idol-house I saw in Ceylon, Most of the temples 
were built of wood ; all were exceedingly unpretentious, and 
without the least trace of style. The numerous priests and 
temple attendants lived in rather squalid and disorderly dwellings 
in the neighbourhood of the temple. They received me in a 
friendly way and showed me their books, of which they occa- 
sionally sold some. The negotiation several times ended by the 
priest presenting me with the book I wished to purchase and 
positively refusing to receive compensation in any form. On 
one occasion the priest stated that he himself was prevented by 
the precepts of his religion from receiving the purchase-money 
agreed upon, but said that I might hand -it over to some of the 
persons standing round. At two of the priests' houses there was 
a swarm of school-children, who ran busily about with their 
palm-leaf writing books and writing implements. 

The temples were very different in their arrangements, pro- 
bably on account of the dissimilar usages of the various Buddhist 
sects to which they belonged. A temple near Colombo contained 
a large number of wooden images and j)aintings of gods, or men 
of more than human size. Most of them stood ujDright like a 
guard round a sitting Buddha. I could not observe any dislike 
on the part of the priests to take the foreigner round their 
temples. The key, however, was sometimes wanting to some 
repository, whose contents they were perhaps unwilling to 
desecrate by showing them to the unbeliever. This was, for 
instance, the case with the press which contained the devil's 



710 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[OHAr. 



bow and arrows, in the temple at Ratnapoora. The temple 
vessels besides were exceedingly ugly, tasteless, and ill-kept, I 
seldom saw anything that showed any sign of taste, art, and 
orderliness. How different from Japan, where all the swords, 
lacquer work, braziers,- teacups, &c., kept in the better temples 
would deserve a place in some of the art museums of Europe. 

In the sketch of the first voyage from Novaya Zemlya to 
Ceylon, a countryman of Lidner can scarcely avoid giving a 




STATOES IN A TEMPLE IN CEYLON. 



picture of " Ceylon's burned up vales." In this respect the 
following extract from a letter from Dr. Almquist, sketching his 
journey to the interior of the island may be instructive : — 

" Three hours after our arrival at Point de Galle I sat properly 
stowed away in the mail-coach en route, for Colombo. As 
travelling companions I had a European and two Singhalese. 
As it was already pretty dusk in the evening there was not much 
of the surrounding landscape visible. We went on the whole 



XIX.] DR. ALMQUIST'S EXCURSION. 717 

night through a forest of tall coco-nut trees whose dark tops 
were visible far up in the air against the somewhat lighter sky. 
It was peculiar to see the number of fire-flies flying in every 
direction, and at every wing-stroke emiting a bright flash. The 
night air had the warm moistness which is so agreeable in the 
tropics. Now and then the sound of the sea penetrated to our 
ears. For we followed the west coast in a northerly direction. 
More could not be observed in the course of the night, and all 
the passengers were soon sunk in deep sleep, 

" After seven hours' brisk trot we came to a railway station 
and continued our journey by rail to Colombo, the capital of 
Ceylon, As there was nothing special to see or do there, I went 
on without stopping by the railway, which here bends from the 
coast to Kandy and other places. The landscape now soon 
became grander and grander. We had indeed before seen 
tropical vegetation at several places, but of the luxuriance which 
here struck the eye we had no conception. The pity was that 
men had come hither, had cleared and planted, 

" In the lowlands I saw some cinnamon plantations, Ceylon 
cinnamon is very dear; in Europe cheaper and inferior sorts 
are used almost exclusively, and most of the plantations in 
Ceylon have been abandoned many years ago. Soon the train 
leaves the lowland and begins to ascend rapidly. The patch of 
coast country, where the coco-nut trees prevail, is exchanged for 
a very mountainous landscape ; first hills with large open valleys 
between, then higher continuous mountains with narrow, deep, 
kettle-like valleys, or open hilly plateaus. In the valleys rice is 
principally cultivated. The hills and mountain sides were pro- 
bably originally covered with the most luxuriant primitive forest, 
but now on all the slopes up to the mountain summits it is cut 
down, and they are covered with coffee plantations. The coffee- 
plant is indeed very pretty, but grows at such a distance apart 
that the ground is everjnvhere visible between, and this is a 
wretched covering for luxuriant Ceylon, 

"At two o'clock in the afternoon we arrived at the station, 
Perideniya, the nearest one to Kandy, The famous botanical 
garden lies in its neighbourhood, and there I had to visit the 
superintendent of the garden, Dr, Thwaites, This elderly, but 
still active and enthusiastic naturalist is exceedingly interested 
in botanical research, and very obliging to all who work in that 
department. He received nie in a very friendly manner, and 
it was due to him that the programme of my visit there was 
so full. 

"A botanic garden in Ceylon must naturally be something 
extraordinary, Nowhere else can grander or more luxuriant 
vegetation be seen than here. The garden has been especially 
famous for the number of different varieties of treefe of immense 



CHAP. XIX.] THE BOTANIC GAKDBN NEAE KANDY. 719 

size whicli it can show. Besides, all possible better known plants 
are to be found here, cultivated in the finest specimens. Spices 
and drugs were specially well represented. Here long tendrils of 
the black pepper-plant wound themselves up the thick tree- 
stems, here the cardamon and the ginger flourished, here the 




HIGHLAND VIEW IN THE INTEEIOR OF CEYLON. 

Cofltee Plantations ; Adam's Peak in the back-ground. 



pretty cinnamon, camphor, cinchona, nutmeg, and cocoa trees 
made a splendid show, here I saw a newly gathered harvest of 
vanilla. The abundance of things to be seen, learned, and 
enjoyed here was incredible. However, the next day I deter- 
mined on the advice of Dr. Thwaites to make a tour up to the 



720 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

mountain localities proper, in order there to get a better sight of 
the lichen flora of Ceylon. 

" I now travelled south partly by rail, partly by coach, until in 
the evening I found myself lodged at a ' rest-house ' at Ram- 
bodde, a thousand metres above the sea, at about the same height 
accordingly as that at which trees cease to grow in southern 
Norway, This tropical mountain land reminds one a little, in 
respect of the contours of the landscape, of the fells of Norway. 
Here too are found league-long deep valleys, surrounded by 
high mountain summits and ranges with outlines sharply 
marked against the horizon. But here they were everywhere 
overgrown with coffee bushes, or possibly with cinchona plants. 
The mountain slopes were so laid bare from the bottom all the 
way up that scarce a tree was left in sight ; everywhere so far as 
the eye could reach only coffee. 

" Next day, attended by a Singhalese, I went, or to speak more 
correctly, climbed farther up the steep coffee plantations. At a 
height of 1,300 metres above the sea coffee ceases to grow, and 
we now found some not very extensive tea plantations, and above 
these the primitive forest commences. At a height of 1,900 
metres above the sea there is an extensive open plateau. Up 
here there is a not inconsiderable place, Novara Elliya, where 
the governor has a residence, and part of the troops are in 
barracks during the summer heat. One of the mountains 
which surround this plateau is Pedrotalegalla, the loftiest 
mountain of Ceylon, which reaches a height of 2,500 metres 
above the sea. 

" I have ascended not so few mountains, but of none has the 
ascent been so easy as of this, for a broad footpath ran all the 
way to the top. Without this path the ascent had been impos- 
sible, for an hour's time would have been required for every foot 
made good through the jungle, so closely is the ground under 
the lofty trees covered to the top of the mountain with bushes, 
creepers, or the bamboo. In the evening I returned to my 
former night-quarters, where I slept well after a walk of 
thirty-six English miles. 

" As I felt myself altogether unable the following day to make 
any further excursion on foot, I travelled back to Peradeniya by 
mail-coach. During this journey I had as my travelling com- 
panion a Singhalese, whom it was a special pleasure to see at 
close quarters. One of his big toes was ornamented with a 
broad ring of silver, both his ears were pierced above, and 
provided with some pendulous ornament, and one side of the 
nose was likewise perforated, in order that at that place too might 
he adorn himself with apiece of grandeur. On his head he had, 
like all Singhalese, a comb by which the hair drawn right 
upwards is kept in position, as little girls at home are wont to 



XX ] THE OBJECT OF THE EXPEDITION. 721 

have their hair arranged. As the man did not appear to know 
a word of English, it was impossible to enter into any closer 
acquaintance with him. 

" At noon on the following day I found myself compelled, by 
a quite unexpected occurrence, to return precipitately to the 
coast again. Dr. Thwaites and I had been invited to dinner by 
his Excellency the Governor. , As I was still limping after my 
long excursion on foot, and besides had not had the forethought 
to take a dress-suit with me, I considered that, vexatious as it 
was to decline, I could not accept this gracious invitation, but 
instead went my way. Thus after six exceedingly pleasant days 
I came back to Point de Galle and the Vega " 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Voyage Home — Cliristmas, 1879 — Aden — Suez — Cairo — Excursion to 
the Pyramids and the Mokattam Mountains —Petrified Tree-stems — The 
Suez Canal — Landing on Sicily by night — Naples — Rome — The Members 
of the Expedition separate — Lisbon — England — Paris — Copenhagen — 
Festive Entry into Stockholm — Fetes there — Conclusion. 

During our stay in .Japan and our voyage thence to Ceylon I had 
endeavoured at least in some degree to preserve the character 
of the voyage of the Vega as a scientific expedition, an attempt 
which, considering the short time the Vega remained at each 
place, could not yield any very important results, and which 
besides was rendered difficult, though in a way that was 
agreeable and flattering to us, by I may almost say the tem- 
pestuous hospitality with which the Vega men were every- 
where received during their visits to the ports of Japan and 
East Asia. It was besides difficult to find any new untouched 
field of research in regions which were the seat of culture and 
civilisation long before the time when the forest began to be 
cut down and seed to be sown in the Scandinavian North, 
and which for centuries have formed the goal of exploratory 
expeditions from all the countries of Europe. I hope how- 
ever that the Vega will leave lasting memorials even of 
this part of her voyage through the contributions of Stux- 
berg, Nordquist, Kjellman, and Almquist to the evertebrate 
fauna and the sea-weed and lichen flora of East Asia, and by 
my collections of Japanese books of fossil plants from Mogi 
and Laquan, &;c. 

With the new overpowering impression which nature and 
people exerted on those of us, who now for the, first time 

o A 



:<?-'?5*Si 




. N^ >."-'<'./ ^y//'^////' 




THE SCIENTIFIC MEN OF THE "VEOA." 



F. R. Kjellman. 
E. Almquist. 



A. Stuxberg. 
O. Nordquist. 



CHAP. XX.] CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S EVE. 723 

visited Japan, China, India, Borneo, and Ceylon, it was how- 
ever specially difficult, during a stay of a few days at each place, 
to preserve this side of the Vega expedition. I therefore 
determined after leaving Ceylon to let it drop completely, 
that is, from that point merely to travel home. Regarding 
this part of the voyage of the Vega I would thus have very 
little to say, were it not that' an obligation of gratitude compels 
me to express in a few words the thanks of the Vega men for 
all the honours bestowed upon them, and all the goodwill they 
enjoyed during the last part of the voyage. For many of my 
readers this sketch may perhaps be of interest as reminding 
them of some happy days which they themselves have lived 
through, and it may even happen that it will not be unwelcome 
to the friends of geography in a future time to read this 
description of the way in which the first circumnavigators of 
Asia and Europe were feted in the ports and capitals of the 
civilised countries. In this sketch however I am compelled 
to be as brief as possible, and I must therefore sue for pardon 
if every instance of hospitality shown us cannot be mentioned. 

We started from Point de Galle on the 22nd December, and 
arrived at Aden on the 7th January. The passage was tedious 
in consequence of light winds or calms. Christmas Eve we 
did not celebrate on this occasion, tired as we were of 
entertainments, in such a festive way as at Pitlekaj, but 
only with a few Christmas-boxes and some extra treating. 
On New Year's Eve, on the other hand, the officers in the gun- 
room were surprised by a deputation from the forecastle 
clad in pesks as Chukches, who came, in good Swedish, mixed 
with a few words of the Pitlekaj lingua franca not yet forgotten, 
to bring us a salutation from our friends among the ice of the 
north, thanks for the past and good wishes for the coming year, 
mixed with Chukch complaints of the great heat hereaway 
in the neighbourhood of the equator, which for fur-clad men 
was said to be altogether unendurable. 

We remained at Aden only a couple of days, received in 
a friendly manner by the then acting Swedish-Norwegian 
consul, who took us round to the most remarkable points of 
the desolate environs of this important haven, among others 
to the immense, but then and generally empty water reservoirs 
which the English have made in the neighbourhood of the 
town. No place in the high north, not the granite cliffs of 
the Seven Islands, or the pebble rocks of Low Island on 
Spitzbergen, not the mountain sides on the east coast of 
Novaya Zemlya, or the figure-marked ground at Cape 
Chelyuskin is so bare of vegetation as the environs of Aden 
and the parts of the east coast of the Red Sea which we saw. 
Nor can there be any comparison in respect of the' abundance 

o A ^ 



724 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ohap. 

of animal lite between the equatorial countries and the Polar 
regions we have named. On the whole animal life in the 
coast lands of the highest north, where the mountains are 
liigh and surrounded bj deep water, appears to be richer in 
individuals than in the south, and this depends not only on 
the populousness of the fowl-colonies and the number of large 
animals of the chase that we find there, but also on the 
abundance of evertebrates in the sea. At least the 
dredgings made from the Vega during the voyage between 
Japan and Ceylon gave an exceedingly scanty yield in 
comparison with our dredgings north of Cape Chelyuskin. 

Aden is now an important port of call for the vessels which 
pass through the Suez Canal from European waters to the 
Indian Ocean, and also one of the chief places for the export of 
the productions of Yemen or Arabia Felix. In the latter 
respect the harbour was of importance as far back as about 
four hundred years ago, when the Italian, LuDOVico de 
Varthema, was for a considerable time kept a prisoner by the 
Arab tribes at the place. 

In the harbour of Aden the Vega was saluted by the firing of 
twenty-one guns and the hoisting of the Swedish flag^at the main- 
top of an Italian war vessel, the despatch steamer Esploratore 
under the command of Captain Amezaga. The Usploratore took 
part in an expedition, consisting of three war vessels, charged 
with founding an Italian colony at Assab Bay, which cuts into 
the east coast of Africa, north of Bab-el-Mandeb, on a tract of 
land purchased for the purpose by Rubbattino, an Italian 
commercial company. On board was Professor Sapetto, an 
elderly man, who had coucluded the bargain and had lived at 
the place for forty years. It was settled that he should be the 
administrator of the new colony. On board the Esploratore 
were also the savants Beccari and the Marquis DoRiA, famous 
for their extensive travels in the tropics and their valuable 
scientific labours. The officers of the Italian vessel invited us 
to a dinner which was one of the pleasantest and gayest of 
the many entertainments we were present at during our 
homeward journey. When at the close of it we parted from 
our hosts they lighted up the way by which we rowed forward 
over the tranquil waves of the Bay of Aden with blue lights, 
and the desert mountain sides of the Arabian coast resounded 
with the hurrahs which were exchanged in the clear, calm 
night between the representatives of the south and north 
of Europe. 

The Vega, left Aden, or more correctly its port-town. Steamer 
Point, on the 9th January, and sailed the following day through 
Bab-el-Mandeb into the Rod Sea. The passage of this sea, 
which is narrow, but 2,200 kilometres long, was tedious. 



XX.] THE MOKATTAM MOUNTAINS. 725 

especially in its northern part, where a strong head wind 
blew. This caused so great a lowering of the temperature that 
a film of ice was formed on the fresh- water pools in Cairo, 
and that we, Polar travellers as we were, had again to put on 
winter clothes in Egypt itself. 

The Vega anchored on, the 27th January at the now 
inconsiderable port, Suez, situated at the southern entrance to 
the Suez Canal. Most of the scientific men and officers of 
the Vega expedition made an excursion thence to Cairo and the 
Pyramids, and were everywhere received in a very kind way. 
Among other things the Egyptian Geographical Society sent 
a deputation to welcome us under the leadership of the 
President of the Society, the American, Stone Pacha. He 
had in his youth visited Sweden, and appeared to have a 
very pleasant recollection of it. The Geographical Society 
gave a stately banquet in honour of the Vega expedition. 
An excursion was made to the Great Pyramids, and, as far as 
the short time permitted, to other remarkable places in and 
around the heap of ruins of all kinds and from all periods, 
which forms the capital of the Egypt of to-day. During our 
visit to the Pyramids the Swedish-Norwegian consul-general, 
BOdtker, gave us a dinner in the European hotel there, and 
the same evening a ball was given us by the Italian consul- 
general, De Martino. a day was besides devoted by some of 
US; in company with M. GuiSEPPE Haimann, to a short excursion 
to the Mokattam Mountains, famous for the silicified tree- 
stems found there. I hoped along with the petrified wood to 
find some strata of clay-slate or schist with leaf-impressions. 
I was however unsuccessful in this, but I loaded heavily a 
carriage drawn by a pair of horses with large and small tree- 
stems converted into hard flint. These lie spread about in the 
desert in incredible masses, partly broken up into small pieces 
partly as long fallen stems, without root or branches, but in 
a. wonderfully good state of preservation. Probably they had 
originally lain imbedded in a layer of sand above the present 
surface of the desert. This layer has afterwards been carried 
away by storms, leaving the heavy masses of stone as a peculiar 
stratum upon the desert sand, which is not covered by any 
grassy sward. No root-stumps were found, and it thus ap- 
peared as if the stems had been carried by currents of water 
to the place where they w^ere imbedded in the sandy layers 
and silicified. In their exterior all these petrifactions resemble 
each other, and by the microscopical examination which has 
hitherto been made naturalists have only succeeded in dis- 
tinguishing two species belonging to the family Nicolia, and a 
palm, a pine, and a leguminous plant, all now extinct. It is 
possible that among the abundant materials I brought home 



726 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

with me some other types may be discovered by poKshing 
and microscopical examination. Such at least was my 
expectation in bringing home this large quantity of stones, 
the transport of which to the Vega was attended with a 
heavy expenditure. 

From Cairo we returned, on the 2nd February, to Suez, and 
the following day the Vega weighed anchor to steam through the 
Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. This gigantic work, created 
by the genius and perseverance of Lesseps, which is unsur- 
passed by the many marvels of construction in the laud of the 
Pharaohs, has not a very striking appearance, for the famous 
canal runs, like a small river with low banks, through the mono- 
tonously yellow plain of the desert. There are no sluices. No 
bold rock-blastings stand as monuments of difficulties overcome. 
But proud must every child of our century be when he gazes on 
this proof that private enterprise can in our day accomplish 
what world-empires in former times were unable to carry into 
execution. We touched at Port Said for a few hours on the 
5th February, after which we continued our voyage to Naples, 
the first European port we were to visit. 

At Aden and in Egypt I had received several letters and 
telegrams informing me that great preparations were being 
made at Naples for our reception, and that repeated inquiries 
had been addressed to the Swedish consul-general regarding 
the day of our arrival, questions which naturally it was not so 
easy to answer, as our vessel, with its weak steam-power, was 
very dependent on wind and weather. It was hoped that the 
Vega might be signalled from the Straits of Messina, but Ave did 
not come to the entrance to the Straits until after sunset. I 
therefore ordered the Vega to lie to there for some hours, while 
Lieut. Bove and I rowed ashore to send off telegrams announc- 
ing our arrival in Europe to Sweden, Naples, Kome, and other 
places. The shore, however, was farther off than we had calcu- 
lated, and it was quite dark before it was reached. It was not 
without difficulty that in these circumstances we could get to 
land through the breakers in the open road quite unknown to 
us, and then, in coal-black darkness, find our way through 
thickets of prickly bushes to the railway which here runs along 
the coast. We had then to go along the railway for a con- 
siderable distance before we reached a station from which our 
telegrams could be despatched. Scarcely had we entered the 
station when we were surrounded by suspicious railway and 
coast-guard men, and we considered ourselves fortunate that 
they had not observed us on the way thither, for they would 
certainly have taken us for smugglers, whom the coast-guard 
have the right to salute with sharp shot. Even now we were 
overwhelmed with questions in a loud and commanding tone, 



XX.] RECEPTION AT NAPLES. 727 

but when they saw to what high personages our telegrams were 
addressed, and were informed by their countryman Bove, who 
wore his uniform, to what vessel we belonged, they became very 
obliging. One of them accompanied us back to our boat, after 
providing us with excellent torches which spread abundant light 
around our footsteps. They were much needed, for we were 
now compelled to share the astonishment of our guide that in 
the darkness we had succeeded in making our way over the 
rugged hills covered with cactus plants and bushy thickets 
between the railway and the coast, and along a railway viaduct 
which we had passed on our way to the station without having 
any idea of it. It was the last adventure of the voyage of the 
Vega, and my first landing on the glorious soil of Italy, 

On the 14th February, at 1 P.M., the Vega arrived at Naples. 
At Capri a flag-ornamented steamer from Sorrento met us; 
somewhat later, another from Naples, both of which accom- 
panied us to the harbour. Here the Swedish expedition was 
saluted by an American war-vessel, the Wyoming, with twenty- 
one guns. The harbour swarmed with boats adorned with 
flags. Scarcely had the Vega anchored — or more correctly 
been moored to a buoy — when the envoy Lindstrand, the 
Swedish-Norwegian consul Clausen, Prince Teano, president 
of the Geographical Society, Commander Martin Franklin, 
Commendatore Negri, and others came on board. The last- 
named, who nearly two years before had made a special journey 
to Sweden to be present at the departure of the Vega, now 
came from Turin commissioned by the Italian government, and 
deputed by the municipalities of Florence and Venice, the 
Turin Academy of Sciences, and several Italian and foreign 
geographical societies, to welcome the Expedition, which had 
now brought its labours to a happy issue. 

After Herr Lindstrand, as King Oscar's representative, had 
welcomed the Exj^edition to Europe, and publicly conferred 
Swedish decorations on Palander and me, and two adjutants of 
the It§,lian Ministry of Marine had likewise distributed Italian 
orders to some of the Vega men, some short speeches were 
exchanged, on which the members of the Expedition, accom- 
panied by the persons enumerated above, landed in the 
Admiral's steam-launch under a salute of twenty-one guns 
from the Italian guard-ship. On the landing-quay, where 
a large crowd of the inhabitants of the city was assembled 
the Swedish seafarers were received by the Syndic of Naples, 
Count GlUSSO, accompanied by a deputation from the munici- 
pality, &c. Here we were taken, between rows of enthusiastic 
students, in the gala carriages of the municipality, to the Hotel 
Royal des liltrangeres, where a handsome suite of apartments, 
along with equipages and numerous attendants, was placed at 



728 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

our disposal. We were there received by the committee in 
charge of the festivities, Prince Belmonte and Cavalier E.ICC10, 
who afterwards, during our stay in the city, in the kindest 
way arranged everything to make our stay there festive and 
agreeable. 

On Sunday the 15th several deputations were received, 
among them one from the University. A beautifully-bound 
address was presented by "Ateneo Benjamino Franklin," and 
a number of official visits were made and received. We dined 
with the Swedish-Norwegian consul, Clausen. On Monday 
the 16th an address was presented from " Scuola d'Applicazione 
per gl'Ingenieri," and from " Neapolitana Archgeologise, Litter- 
arum et Artium Acadenaia," a song of welcome in Latin, 
written by Professor Antonio Mirabelli. Then, followed a 
grand dinner given by the municipality of the city in a hall of 
the hotel, which was now inaugurated and was named the 
Vega Hall, and was on this occasion ornamented with the 
royal cipher, the Swedish and Italian flags, &c. In the even- 
ing there was a gala representation at San Carlo, where the 
members of the Expedition scattered among the different boxes 
were saluted with repeated loud cries of " Bravo ! " — On Tuesday 
the 17th the Committee had arranged an excursion to Lake 
Averno, the Temple of Serapis, and other places famous in a 
geological and historical respect, situated to the north-west of 
jMaples. Prince Urusov entertained some of the members of 
the Expedition to dinner. There was an afternoon musical 
entertainment at the " Societa Filarmonica," where there was a 
numerous attendance of persons moving in the first circles 
in the city. — Wednesday the 18th, excursion along with the 
Committee to Pompeii, where the Swedish guests were received 
by the famous superintendent of the excavations. Director 
HuGGiERl. Breakfast was eaten with merry jests and gay 
speeches in a splendid Roman bath, still in good preservation, 
excavations were undertaken, &c. In the afternoon there was 
a grand dinner, followed by a reception by the admiral in 
command, and a festive representation at the Bellini Theatre. — 
Thursday the 19th, Dr. Franz Kuhn, arrived from Vienna, 
deputed by the Geographical Society there to welcome us. 
Excursion in company with Professor Palmieri and the Com- 
mittee to Vesuvius, which at the time of our visit was emitting 
thick columns of smoke, was pouring out a stream of lava, and 
casting out masses of glowing stone. We ascended the border 
of the crater, not without inconvenience from the heat of the 
half-solidified lava streams over which we walked, from the 
gases escaping from the crater, and from the red-hot stones 
flung out of it. The new railway, not then ready, was inspected, 
and the observatory visited. We dined with the Committee at 



XX.] EECEPTION AT NAPLES. 729 

the hotel. — Friday the 20th, journey to Rome, where the 
members of the Expedition arrived at 2 P.M., and were, in the 
same way as at Naples, received in a festive manner by the 
Syndic of the city, Prince RUSPOLI, president and director of 
the Geographical Society,- by members of the University, 
the Scandinavian Union, &c. Carriages met the Swedish 
guests, in which they were taken past the Swedish-Norwegian 
minister's hotel, decked with innumerable flags, to Albergo di 
Roma in the Corso, where a splendid suite of apartments, along 
with equipages, was placed at the disposal of the Expedition. 
In the evening we dined with the Swedish minister, and were 
afterwards received by Prince Pallavicini at his magnificent 
palace.- — Saturday the 21st, visit to the Chamber of Deputies, 
private excursions, dinner, given by the Duke Nicolas of 
Leuchtenberg, to Nordenskiold and Nordquist. — Sunday the 
22nd, public meeting of the Geographical Society, at which its 
grand gold medal was presented to Nordenskiold. In the 
evening a grand dinner, given by the Geographical Society, in 
the Continental Hotel. Among the toasts which were drunk 
may be mentioned one to the King of Sweden and Norway, 
proposed in a very warm and eloquent speech by the Premier, 
Cairoli ; to Nordenskiold, by Prince Teano ; to Palander, by 
the Minister of Marine, Admiral AcTON ; to the other members 
of the Expedition, to its munificent patrons, Oscar Dickson 
and Alexander Sibiriakoff, to Bove, the Italian officer, who 
took part in it, &c. — Monday the 23rd. Audience of the King. 
In the evening a grand reception at the Palazzo Teano, where 
almost all that was distinguished and splendid of Roman 
society appeared to be assembled. — Tuesday the 24th. Dined 
at the Quirinal with King Humbert. There were present, 
besides the King and his suite, the Swedish minister, the 
members of the Vega expedition. Prince Teano, President of 
the Geographical Society ; Commendatore Negri; Cairoli, 
Premier ; Acton, Minister of Marine ; Malvano, Secretary of 
the Cabinet; Major Baeatieei, and the Italian naval officer, 
EuGENio Parent, a member of the Swedish Polar expedition 
of 1872-3, and others. In the evening, reception by the English 
minister, Sir A. B. Paget, and a beautifully arranged fete at 
the Scandinavian Union, at which a number of enthusiastic 
speeches were made, and flowers and printed verses were dis- 
tributed. — Wednesday the 25th. Farewell visits. Some of the 
members of the Expedition travelled north by rail. Captain 
Palander made an excursion to Spezzia to take part in a cruise 
on the large ironclad Duilio. The others remained some days 
longer in Rome in order to see its lions, undisturbed by 
official fStes. 

While the Vega lay in the harbour of Naples she was literally 



730 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [cnAr. \'x. 

exposed to storming by visitors. The crew were on several 
occasions invited to the theatres there by the managers. Ex- 
cursions to Pompeii had besides been arranged for them by the 
consul for the united kingdoms, Clausen, who spared no pains to 
make the stay of the expedition at Naples honouring to the 
mother-country and as pleasant as possible to the guests, as well 
as in arranging the more formal details of the visit. We 
had besides the joy of meeting in Italy our comrade from 
the severe wintering of 187:2-3, Eugenie Parent, who soon 
nfter had the misfortune to be in the tower of the ironclad 
Duilio, when the large Armstrong cannon placed there burst, 
and the wonderful good fortune to escape with life and without 
being seriously hurt from this dreadful accident. The only 
mishap on board the Vega during the latter part of her long 
voyage home occurred besides in the harbour of Naples, one of 
the sailors who was keeping back an enthusiastic crowd of 
people who stormed the Vega, being thrown down from the 
bulwarks with the result that he broke an arm.^ 

On the 29th February the Vega left the harbour of Naples, 
but no longer with her staff complete. Doctors Kjellman, 
Almquist, and Stuxberg, and Lieut. Nordquist had pi'eferred 
the land, route from Italy to Stockholm to the long detour by 
sea, and Lieut. Bove was obliged, by family circumstances, to 
leave the Vega at Naples. We, however, all met again at 
Stockholm. At our departure from Naples the gunroom per- 
sonnel thus consisted only of me. Captain Palander, and Lieuts. 
Brusewitz and Hovgaard. 

Through M. A. Rabaut, President of the young, but already 
so well known Geographical Society of Marseilles, I had re- 
ceived repeated invitations to visit along with my companions 
the birthplace of Pytheas, the first Polar explorer and the 
discoverer of the Scandinavian Peninsula, With great reluct- 
ance I was compelled to decline this invitation. We had to 
hasten home, and I wished to save some days for a visit to the 
fatherland of Henry the Navigator and Vasco DA Gama. 

We sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar on the 0th March, 
and anchored in tiie harbour of Lisbon on the 11th March at 
2 P.M.* The following da}'' we made an excursion to the 
beautiful palace of Ointra, situated about live Portuguese miles 
from the capital. On Saturday we were received in audience 
by the King, Doni Luiz, of Portugal, who, a seaman himself, 
appeared to take a great interest in the voyage of the Vega. 
Later in the day the Swedish minister in Lisbon gave a 



^ An accident also happened during- tiic first lialf of the expedition, the 
steersman, in baclcing among drift-ice, having been tlirown over the wheel 
and hurt very seriously. 




THE OFFICERS OF THE "VEGA." 

E. Bruzewitz. 



C. Bove. 



A. IIovKaard. 



732 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

dinner, to which were invited the President of the Portuguese 
Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the members of the 
Diplomatic Corps, and others, ending in the evening with a 
grand reception. On Monday the 15th we were present by 
special invitation at a meeting of the Geographical Society, at 
which the newly-returned African traveller's, Brito-Capello 
and IvEN, gave addresses. Here I had besides the great pleasure 
of meeting the famous African traveller, Major Serpa Pinto. 
The King at the same time honoured us with decorations, and 
at its meeting on the 10th March the Portuguese Chamber of 
Deputies resolved, on the motion of the Deputies Ennes 
and Alfredo, to express its welcome and good wishes in a 
congratulatory address to the Vega men. 

We weighed anchor again on the 15th March. We were 
favoured at first with a fresh breeze and made rapid progress, 
but at the entrance to the Channel we met with a steady head- 
wind, so that it was not until the evening of the 25th March, 
considerably later than we had counted on, that we could 
anchor in the harbour of Falmouth, not, as was first intended, 
in that of Portsmouth. We thus missed some preparations 
which had been made at the latter place to welcome us to the 
land which stands first in the line of those that have sent 
.out explorers to the Polar Seas. We besides missed a banquet 
which the Royal Geographical Society had arranged in honour 
of the Vega expedition, at which the Prince of Wales was to 
have presided, and which now, in the midst of the Easter 
holidays and a keenly-contested parliamentary election, could 
not be held.^ Our stay in England, at all events, was exceedingly 
pleasant. Palander and I travelled on the night before 
Good Friday to London, where we were received at the railway 
station by the Swedish minister. Count Piper, and a large 
number of our countrymen living in London. Count Piper 
carried me to my future host, the distinguished Secretary of 
the Geographical Society and famous Arctician and geographical 
writer, Clements R. Markham, who did everything to make 
my stay in London as pleasant and instructive as possible. 
Saturday was spent in paying visits. On Easter Sunday Consul- 
General Richter gave a lunch in the Continental Hotel, to 
which a considerable number of Scandinavians and Englishmen 
were invited. The same evening we dined with the famous 
Arctic traveller. Sir Allen Young. On Monday we were 
invited by the Earl of Northbrook, President of the 
Geographical Society,^ to his country seat, Stratton, near 

^ Further particulars on this point are given in the Annual Address on 
the Progress of Geography by the Eight Hon. the Earl of Northbrook 
{Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1880, p. 401). 

^ During our visit to London we had no opportunity of taking part in 
any of the meetings of the Society, but oome time after the Society gave 



XX.] EECEPTION AT PARIS. 733 

Winchester. Here we saw the way — an exceedmgiy quiet one — 
in which an English parHamentary election goes on. The same 
day we paid a visit to Mr. Spottiswoode, the President of the 
Royal Society, at his magnificent country seat, in the neighbour- 
hood of London. Here I saw several instructive experiments 
with very large machines for the production of light by 
electric discharges in highly rarified air. Wednesday the 31st, 
grand dinner at the Swedish minister's, and in the evening of the 
same day a Scandinavian fete, in the Freemasons' Hall, at which 
there were great rejoicings according to old northern usages. 

We started for Paris on the night before the 1st April. We 
went by Boulogne-sur-Mer, whose Chamber of Commerce had 
invited us to a fete to celebrate the first landing of the Vegci 
men on the soil of France after the North-East Passage was 
achieved. Several of the authorities of the town and 
Dr. Hamy, a delegate from the Geographical Society of Paris 
met us in the waiting-room at the station. Here a break- 
fast had been arranged, in the course of which we were 
presented to a number of eminent persons of the place, with 
whom we afterwards passed the greater part of the day in the 
most agreeable way. After making several excursions in the 
neighbourhood of the town and paying the necessary ofiicial 
visits, we partook of a festive dinner arranged by the munici- 
pality. From Boulogne we travelled by night to Paris, arriving 
there on the 2nd April at 7 A.M. 

Notwithstanding the early morning hour we were received 
here at the station in a festive way by the Swedish-Norwegian 
minister and the 'personnel of the Legation, a deputation from 
the Geographical Society of Paris, and a considerable number 
of the members of the Scandinavian colony in the capital of 
France. The famous Madagascar traveller, Gkandidier, 
President of the Geographical Society's Central Committee, 
welcomed us, with lively expressions of assent from the sur- 
rounding crowd. We were invited during our stay in the 
city to live with our countryman, A. NoBEL, in a very 
comfortable villa belonsfino' to him, Rue MalakofF, No. 53, and 
I cannot sufiiciently commend the liberal way in which he here 
discharged the duties of a host and assisted us during our stay 
in Paris, which, though very agreeable and honouring to us, 
demanded an extraordinary amount of exertion. 

Our reception in Paris was magnificent, and it appeared as 
if the metropolis of the world wished to show by the way in 
which she honoured a feat of navigation that it is not without 
reason that she bears on her shield a vessel surrounded by 
swelling billows. It is a pleasant duty for me here to offer 

Palander the Founder's Gold Medal (I had in 18G9 obtained the same 
distinction) and elected me an Honorary Corresponding Member. 



734 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ohap. 

my tlianks for all the goodwill we, during those memorable 
days, enjoyed on the part of the President of the Republic, of 
Admiral La Ronciere LE Noury, President of the Geographical 
Society, his colleague, M. Hecht, M. Maunoir, the Secretary of 
the Society, M. Quatrefage, and M. Daubree, members of the 
Institute, not to forget many other Frenchmen and Scandi- 
navians. Among the f&tes of Paris I must confine myself to 
an enumeration of the principal ones. 

Friday, the 2nd April, Public s6ance de reception by the 
Geographical Society in the Cirque des Champs Elysee in the 
presence of a very large and select audience. Admiral La 
Ronciere delivered the speech on this occasion, which I 
replied to by giving a pretty full account of the Swedish 
Arctic expeditions, on which the President handed me the 
large gold medal of the Society "as a proof of the interest 
which the public and the geographers of France take in the 
voyage of the Vega." Dined the same day with the Swedish- 
Norwegian minister, Sibbern. — Saturday the 3rd. Invitation 
to a festive meeting of delegates from twenty-eight learned 
societies in France in the amphitheatre of the Sorbonne.-^ We 
were greeted by the Minister of Education in a masterly and 
eloquent speech, after which he conferred upon us, on the part 
of the Republic, Commander's and Officer's Insignia of the 
French Legion of Honour. " A reward," as the Minister of the 
Bepublic expressed himself, " for the blood of the brave and 
the sleepless nights of the learned." After that an official 
dinner and reception by M. Jules Ferry. — On Sunday the 4th, 
an address was presented from the Scandinavian Union, under 
the presidency of Herr Fortmeijer. In the evening a brilliant 
entertainment on a large scale given by the Scandinavian 
Union in the Hotel Continental. Among those present may 
be mentioned Prince Oscar of Sweden, the President of the 
Fite Committee, Herr Jensen, Fru Kristina Nilson-Rouzeaud, 
the Danish minister, the Swedish embassy, members of the 
Russian embassy, a large number of Scandinavian artists, many 
of the principal representatives of the French and foreign 
press, and lastly, what ought perhaps to have been mentioned 
first, a flower-garden of ladies, of which every dweller in the 
north might feel proud. — Monday the 5th. Meeting of the 
Institute in its well-known hall, with speeches of welcome. 
Hence we were conducted to a grand festive reception, arranged 
beforehand to the minutest details by the Municipal Council, 
in " la Salle des fitats," situated in that part of the Tuileries 
where the Geographical Congress was held in 1878, The hall 

^ These are enumerated in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic, Mai, 
1880, p. 463. In the same part (p. 450) there is also a report of the 
speeches made at the seance de reception. 



xx.J ' COPENHAGEN. 735 

and the ascent to it were richly ornamented with French tri- 
colours and Swedish flags, beautiful Gobelins, and living plants. 
A number of speeches were made, after which the President of 
the Municipal Council, en the part of the City of Paris, pre- 
sented to me a large, artistically executed medal as a memorial 
of the voyage of the Vega} In the evening a grand dinner 
was given by the Societe de Geographie, with several eloquent 
speeches : for King Oscar (General Pittie), for President Grevy, 
for the prosperity of France (Prince Oscar), for the Veija ex- 
pedition (M. Quatrefage), and so on. — Tuesday the 6th. Dinner 
given by the President of the Republic, M. Grevy, to Prince 
Oscar and the Vega men then in Paris. — Wednesday the 7th. 
Dinner given to a numerous and select company of French 
savants by the then President of the Geographical Society and 
of the Institute, M. A. Daubree.— Thursday the 8th. Dinner 
to a small circle at Victor Hugo's house, where the elderly poet 
and youthful-minded enthusiast in very warm, and I need not 
say eloquent, words congratulated me on the accomplishment of 
my task. Eeception there the same evening. 

Here ended our visit to the capital of France. Thoroughly 
exhausted, but bringing with us memories which shall never 
pass away, we travelled the following day to Ylissingen, whither 
the Vega had gone from Falmouth, under the command of 
Brusewitz. We had been compelled to decline warm and 
hearty invitations to Holland and Belgium from want of time 
and strength to take part in any more festivities. The anchor 
was weighed immediately after we came on board, and the 
course shaped for Copenhagen. At noon on the 15th we passed 
Helsingborg, which was richly ornamented with flags for the 
occasion. Already at Kullaberg we had been met by the 
steamer H. F. Prior, with Lund students on board, and eight 
other steamers with deputations of welcome and enthusiasts for 
the voyage of the Vega, from Copenhagen, Malmo, Helsingborg, 
and Elsinore. The number of passengers was stated to be 1,500, 
including a number of ladies. Songs were sung, speeches made 
fireworks let off, &c. At night we lay at anchor in the outer 
road of Copenhagen, so that it was not until the following fore- 
noon that we steamed into the harbour, saluting the fort with 
nine shots of our little cannon, and saluted in turn by as many. 
While the Vega was sailing into the harbour, and after she had 
anchored, there came on board the Swedish Minister, Baron 

1 The medal was accompanied by an " extrait du registre de proc^s- 
verbanx du conseil municipal de la ville de Paris," a caligraphic master- 
piece illuminated in various colours and gold. The Conseil munidjml also 
ordered a detailed description of the fete to be printed, with the title 
Relation officielle de le reception de M. le Professeur NordensMold par le 
conseil municipal de Paris le lundi 5 Avril 1880. 



7B6 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xx. 

Beck-Friis, the Swedish consul-general EverlOf, the re- 
presentatives of the University, of the merchants, and of the 
■Geographical Society under the presidency of the former President 
of the Council, Count Holstein-Holsteinborg, to bring us a 
welcome from the corporations they represented, and accompany 
us to the Toldbod, where we were received by the President-in- 
chief, the Presidents of the Communal A.uthority, and the Bourse, 
and the Swedish Unions of Copenhagen. We then drove through 
the festively ornamented city, saluted by resounding hurrahs, 
from a countless throng of human beings, to the Hotel 
d'Angleterre, where apartments had been prepared for us. On 
the 17th a feU was given by the Geographical Society in the 
Casino Hall, which was attended by the King, the Crown Prince, 
and Prince John of Gliicksborg, and nearly all the distinguished 
men of Copenhagen in the fields of science, business, and politics. 
The speech of the fete, was delivered by Professor Erslev. 
Thereafter a gay and lively banquet was given, at which the 
Crown Prince of Denmark presided. 

The 18th April. Grand entertainment given by the King. — 
The 19th April. Magnificent banquet given by the Society of 
Merchants to the members of the Vega expedition at the Bourse, 
the rooms being richly ornamented with flowers and flags, and 
with busts and paintings executed for the occasion by eminent 
artists. Councillor of state Melchior presided, and amongst 
those present, were observed the Crown Prince, the ministers, 
the speakers and vice-speakers of the folke- and lands-ting, and 
a number of the principal scientific and military men and 
officials. Speeches were delivered by the Crown Prince, State- 
councillor Teitgen, Manager of the Great Northern Telegra|)h 
Company, Admiral Bille, Professor Madvig, State-councillor 
Melchior, &c. At another place, an entertainment was given at 
the same time to the crew. In the evening, /ete of the Students' 
Union, the Swedish National Union, and the Norwegian Union. 

I was obliged to decline an invitation to Lund, because his 
Majesty, King Oscar, had expressed the wish that we should first 
set foot on Swedish ground at the Palace of Stockholm. 

It was settled that our entry into Stockholm should take place 
in the evening of the 24th April, but we started from Copen- 
hagen as early as the night before the 20th in order to be sure 
that we would not, in consequence of head winds or other 
unforeseen hindrances, arrive too late for the festivities in the 
capital of Sweden. In consequence of this precaution we 
arrived at the archipelago of Stockholm as early as the 23rd, so 
that we were compelled during the night between the 23rd and 
24th to lie still at Ualaro. Here we were met by Commander 
Lagerciv'ANTZ, who by the King's orders brought our families on 
the steamer Skoldmon to meet us. 




■i ^ 



s ° 

« O 



6 B 



738 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. xx. 

On the 24th at 8 a.m. the Vega again weighed anchor in 
order to steam on slowly, past Vaxholm into Stockholm. We 
met innumerable flag-decked steamers by the way, fully laden 
with friends, known and unknown, who with shouts of rejoicing 
welcomed the Vega men home. The nearer we came to 
Stockholm, the greater became the number of steamers, that, 
arranged in a double line and headed by the Vega, slowly 
approached the harbour. Lauterns in variegated colours were 
lighted on the vessels, fireworks were let off, and the roar of 
cannon mingled with the loud hurrahs of thousands of spectators. 
After being greeted at Kastelholmen with one salute more the 
Vega anchored in the stream in Stockholm at 10 p.m. 

The queen of the Malar had clothed herself for the occasion 
in a festive dress of incomparable splendour. The city was 
illuminated, the buildings round the harbour being in the first 
rank. Specially had the King done everything to make the 
reception of the Vega expedition, which he had so warmly 
cherished from the first moment, as magnificent as possible. 
The whole of the Royal Palace was radiant with a sea of lights 
and flames, and was ornamented with symbols and ciphers in 
which the name of the youngest sailor on the Vega was not 
omitted. 

An estrade had been erected from Logaorden to the land- 
ing-place. Here we were received by the town councillors, 
whose president, the Governor, welcomed us in a short speech ; 
we were then conducted to the Palace, where, in the presence 
of Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden, the members of the 
Royal House, the highest officials of the State and Court, &c., 
we were in the grandest manner welcomed in the name of the 
fatherland by the King of Sweden, who at the same time con- 
ferred upon us further marks of his favour and goodwill.^ It 
was also at the Royal Palace that the series of festivities com- 
menced with a grand gala dinner, on the 25th of April, at 
which the King in a few magnanimous words praised the 
exploit of the Vega. Then f^te followed fSte for several 
weeks. 

On the 26th the Swedish Yacht Club gave an entertainment 
in the Grand Hotel under the presidency of Admiral Lager- 
crantz. Among those who were present may be mentioned 
his Majesty the King, the Crown Prince, Prince Oscar, Oscar 

^ Among others to all who took part in the Expedition a Vega medal, 
specially struck, to be worn on a blue-yellow riband on the breast. It may 
perhaps be of interest for numismatists to know that the medals distributed 
on account of the Vega expedition are to be found delineated in the eighth 
and ninth parts of the Swedish Family Journal for 1880. To those that 
are there delineated there have since been added a medal struck by the 
Finnish Society of Sciences, and the Anthropological-Geographical Society's 
medal. 



740 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 

Dickson, and Baron von Otter, Minister of Marine. On tlie 
evening of the same day there was a torchlight procession by- 
pupils of the Technical High School. On the 27th there was a 
gala-play, to which all the, Vega men were invited. On the 28th 
at a festive meeting of the Academy of the Sciences, a medal 
struck on account of the Vega expedition was distributed, 
the meeting being followed by a dinner given at the Hotel 
Phoenix by the Academy under the presidency of the Crown 
Prince. On the 30th April and 5th May banquets were 
given by the Publicist Club, and by the Idun Society, by 
the Naval Officers' Society to the officers of the Vega, and 
by the Stockholm Workman's Union to the crew. On the 7th 
and 8th May there were festivities at Upsala, the principal 
attraction of which consisted of gay, lively, and ingenious 
carnival representations, in which we received jocular addresses 
and homage from fantastically dressed representatives of the 
peoples of different countries and periods. 

During this time there were daily received deputations, 
addresses, and telegrams of welcome, among others from the 
riksdag of Sweden, the storting of Norway, and the principal 
towns of Norway and Finland, from the student corps at Upsala 
and Helsingborg, from the St. Petersburg Geographical Society, 
from women in Northern Russia (the address accompanied by 
a laurel wreath in silver), &c. In a word, the Stockholm 
fetes formed the climax of the remarkable triumphal pro- 
cession from Japan to Stockholm, which stands unique in the 
history of festivities. Even after the Expedition was broken 
up in Stockholm, and the Vega had sailed on the 9th May for 
Karlskrona and Gothenburg, where she was again taken over by 
the whaling company that previously owned her, the fetes were 
repeated at these towns. They commenced anew when the 
Vega exhibition was opened with appropriate solemnities by 
His Majesty the King in one of the wings of the Royal Palace, 
and when some months after I visited Berlin, St. Petersburg, 
and my old dear fatherland, Finland. 

But I may not weary my reader with more notes of festivities. 
It is my wish yet once again to offer my comrades' and my 
own thanks for all the honours conferred upon us both in 
foreign lands and in the Scandinavian North. And in conclusion 
I wish to express the hope that the way in which the accounts 
of the successful voyage of the Vega have been received in all 
countries will give encouragement to new campaigns in the 
service of research, until the natural history of the Siberian 
Polar Sea be completely investigated and till the veil that 
still conceals the enormous areas of land and sea at the 
north and south poles be completely removed, until man at 
last knows at least the main features of the whole of the 



W M i l I It. 




Greenwich E. 20 



t^'^ 



XX.] 



THANKS TO ALL. 



741 



planet which has been assigned him as a dwelling-place in 
the depths of the universe. 

Hearty thanks last of all to my companions during the 
voyage of the Vega ; to her distinguished commander Louis 
Palander, her scientific men and officers, her petty officers and 
crew. Without their courage and the devotion they showed to 
the task that lay before us, the problem of the North-East 
Passage would perhaps still be waiting for its solution. 








ABSTRACT OF THE VOYAGE OF THE VEOA. 



Karlskrona — Copenhagen . 

Copenhagen — Gothenburg . 

Gotlienburg — Tromsoe 

Tronisoe — Chabarova 

Chabarova — Fort Dickson 

Port Dickson — Cape Chelyuskin 

Cape Chelyuskin — Preobraschenie Island 

Preobraschenie Island — the Mouth of the 

Lena .... 

The Mouth of the Lena — Irkaipij 
Irkaipij — Pitlekaj 

The Wintering . . . 



Pitlekaj— St. Lawrence Bay 

St. Lawrence Bay — Port Clarence 

Port Clarence — Konyam Bay . 

Konyam Bay — St. Lawrence Island 

St. Lawrence Island — Behring Island 

Behring Island — Yokohama 

Yokohama — Kobe 

Kobe — Nagasaki 

Nagasaki— Hong Kong 

Hong Kong — Labuan 

Labuan — Singapore . 

Singapore — Point de Galle 

Point de Galle — Aden 



Aden — Suez 
Suez — Naples . 
Naples— Lisbon 
Lisbon — Falmouth . 
Falmouth — Vlissingeu 
, Vlissingen— Copenhagen 
Copenhagen — Stockholm 

Total 



1878. 
June 22—24 


Distance traversed 

English 

geographical miles 

144 


26, 27 


134 


July 4—17 


1,040 


„ 21—30 


930 


Aug. 1—6 


580 


,, 10—19 


- 510 


„ 20-24 


385 


„ 24—27 


380 


Aug. 27— Sept., 12 


1,260 


Sept. 18—28 


235 


Sept. 28, 1878— 
July 18, 1879 




1879. 
July 18—20 


190 


„ 21, 22 


120 


,, 26—28 


160 


30, 31 


90 


Aug. 2—14 


900 


Aug. 19— Sept. 2 


1,715 


Oct. 11—13 


360 


„ 18—21 


410 


Oct. 27— Nov. 2 


1,080 


Nov. 9—17 


1,040 


„ 21-28 


750 


Dec. 4—15 


1,510 


Dec. 22- Jan. 7, 1880 2,200 


1880. 
Jan. 9-27 


1,320 


Feb. 3—14 


1,200 


Feb. 29— March 11 


1,420 


March 16—25 


745 


April 5—8 


345 


„ 1.0—16 


632 


„ 20—24 


404 



22,189 



INDEX 



INDEX. 



"(ft after the number of a page signifies note.) 



Aagaard, Aage, 230 n 

Acaiithostephia 3Ialmc/rem, 435 

Actinia Bay, 252 

Acton, Admiral, 729 

Adam's mammoth _^ftcZ, 308 

Adam's Peak, 719 

Adam's wood, 556 n 

Aden, 723 

Ahlquist, A. E., 81 

Aino race, the, 548 

Aitanga, Chukch woman, 442 ; portrait, 

401 
Akja, Lapp sledge, 67 
Alasej, the river, discovered, 521 ; mam- 
moth /ft(^ at, 308 
Alaska, 547 

Alaska Commercial Company, 593 
Alauda alpestns, 101 n 
Albertus Magnus, 123 
Alecto, see Antedon 
Aleutian Islands, the, 124 n, 604 n, 

605 n : discovered, 547 
Alexejev, Feodot, 522, 523, 525 
Alfred the Great, 39, 40, 164 
Algse, in the Kara Sea, 140 ; at Behring 

Island, 617 n 
Alibert's graphite quarry, 576 n 
Alkhomet, 88 

Almquist, E., 3, 30, 32, 74, 143, 160, 243, 
244, 258, 329, 335, 351, 360, 380, 381, 
422, 580, 707, 721 ; excursion to Beli 
Cstrov, 153 ; report on a dead man 
laid out on the tundra, 464 ; on the 
colour-sense of the Chukches, 500 ; 
excursion in Ceylon, 716 ; portrait, 
722 
Alophus (beetle), 441 
Altaic races, 81 
Amber in China, 696 
America, the north-west coast of, first 
visited by Europeans, 557 n ; Russian 
voyages to, 546 
American whaler, near the Vegci's winter 
quarters, 353 ; voyages in the Siberian 
Polar sea, 24 ; accounts of the state 



of the ice north of Behring's Straits, 
347 

Amezaga, Captain, 724 

Ammonites with gold lustre, 209 

Ammossov, Feodot, 527 

Amoretti, Carlo, 560 

Amulets, Chukch, 380, 500; Eskimo, 
579 

Anadyr, the river, 19, 455, 456, 523, 525 ; 
is discovered, 521 

Anadyrsk, 524, 529 

Anauls, 524 

Andersen, the photographer, 626 

Andrejev Land, 551 

Andrejev, Sergeant, 551 

Androphagi, 62 n ; 518 n 

Angara river, the, 283 

Anian Sound, the, 560 

Anika, Russian peasant, 519 

Anjou, Peter Feodorovitsch, 20 ; journey, 
556 ; portrait, 554 

Anjui river, market at the, 405, 487 

Ankudinov, Gerasim, 19, 523 n 

Anser hernicla, 189 n ; seen during the 
expedition, 253 

hrachyrhf/nclms^ 98 

hyperhoreus, 430 

leucopsis, 98 

. • pictus, 430 

segetum, 98 

Antedon Eschrichtii, 247, 248 

Anziphorov, the Cossack, 530 

Arachnids on Novaya Zemlya, 114 

Archangel, 55 

Arimaspi, Herodotus' statement regard- 
ing, 307, 512 

Arnell, Dr. 290 

Arvicola ohsci(rus,4Z2 

Asaraayama, ascent and descent of, 661 

Asia, views regarding its geography in 
the beginning of the 18th century, 
533 
Astronomical determinations of position, 

the first in Siberia, 533 )i 
Atlassov, Volodomir, 453, 525, 529 
Aurora, the, at the , Vegci's winter 
quarters, 425 

3 c 



746 



INDEX. 



Austrian Arctic Expedition, 204 
Avatscha Bay, 536, 546 
Avril, Ph., 302 



B 



Backoff, Ivan, 550 

Baer, K. E. von, 122, 537, 606 ; voyage 

to Novava Zemlya, 216 
Baikal Lake, 283 
Balmna 3Iysticttus, 117, 130 
Balanoptera Sihhaltlii, 130 
Baratieri, Major, 729 
Barents, 81, 85 n, 310; voyages, 178; 

wintering, 191 ; death, 194 ; discovery 

of relics from his wintering, 229 
Barjatinsky, Ivan Petrovitsch, 526 
Barnacle Goose; see Anser hernicla 
Barrington, D., 203 
Barrow, J., 176, 560 
Bartlett, W., 353 
Bassendine, James, 176 n 
Baths in Japan, 569 
Baumhauer, 425 
Bavier, Consul, 633, 643, 644 
Bay-ice, 320 

Beaker sponges, 321, 322 
Bear Island, 10, 85, 90, 119 ; discovery 

of, 189 
Bear Islands, the, 528 n, 546, 550, 551; 

the Vega arrives at, 318 ; geological 

formation, 323 
Bear, land, 432 ; see Polar bear 
Beccari, 724 
Beck Friis, Baron, 736 
Beechey, F. W., 25. 570 n 
Behemoth, 302 
Behring, Vitus, 22, 25, 537 n, 544, 598 ; 

first voyage, 534 ; second voyage, 546 ; 

stay on Behring Island, 698 ; death, 

598 
Behring the younger, Captain, 558 
Behring Island, 592 ; discovered, 547, 

597 
Behring's Straits, 562 ; its hydrography, 

582 ; is discovered, 535 
Beli Ostrov, 143 ; excursion to, 153 ; 

description of, 154 ; former visit to, 

157 ; mapping of, 538 
Bellot, J. E., 442 
Belmonte, Prince, 728 
Bell Sound, 88, 95, 97, 100, 107, 139 n 
Beluga ; see White whale 
Beluga Bay, 273 
Bennet, Stephen, 117, 121, 222 
Bentinck, Swedish oflBcer, 456 n 
Beormas, 41, 43 
Beresov, 538 
Berggren, Sven, 134 
Beryl, 712 
Berzelius, 642 

Besimannaja Bay, 58, 88, 261 
Biisk, 283 
Bille, Admiral, 736 
Billings, J., 457, 551, 591 n 
Biwa Lake, 673 
Bjelkov, hunter, 552 
Black-lead pencil first mentioned, 576 n 



Blischni Island ; see Ljachoff's Island 

Bludnaya river, the, 542 

Bodtker, Consul-general, 725 

Bog iron ore formations in the Kara Sea, 

140, 142 
Bolsohaja Eeka, 546, 548 
Bolschoj Kamen, 133 
Bolvan worship, Sartoyed, 64, 69, 76 
Bo7ia Conjidentia (vessel), its fate, 50, 

173 n 
Bona Es.peranza (vessel), its fate, 50, 

11% n 
Books, purchase of Japanese, 670 
Borgen, Dr., Ill 
Borgmastareport, 90 
Borneo, 701 , 706 ; excursion to the 

interior of, 703 
Borrowdale, graphite deposit at, 576 n 
Bosraan, Cornells, 197 
Boulogne-sur-Mer, arrival at, 733 
Bove, G., 3, 32, 145, 243, 378, 396, 436, 

582, 702, 730; excursion to Najtskaj, 

411 ; to the interior of the Chukch 

Peninsula, 418 ; portrait, 731 
Bragin, Dmitri, 605 
Brandt, J. F., 605 
Brandt, W., 212 
Brandy, 485 
Brandywine Bay, 85 
Briochov Islands, 161, 271, 287 
Brown, Eichard, 176 n 
Bruin, Cornelis de, 453 
Brun, Captain, 273 
Brunei, OHver, 180 
Bruzewitz, B., 3, 32, 256, 267, 409, 432, 

730, 735 ; his measurements of the 

thickness of the ice, 351 n ; excursion 

to Najtskaj, 400; portrait, 731 
Buache, 528 
Buckland, John, 173 n 
Buckland, William, 570 n 
Buddhism in Japan, 680 
Buldakov, Timofej, 526 
Bulun, 274, 279 
Burgomaster, 89 ; met with during the 

voyage, 146 
Burney, James, 532 
Burrough, Stephen, 50, 79, 130; his 

voyage, 166 
Busa, Blisej, 520 
Busch, Henry, 531 
Bychov moutli of the Lena, the, 227 n ; 

545 



C 



Cabook, 711 

Cabot, Sebastian, 47, 49, 165; portrait, 

49 
Cadamosto, 454 7i 
Cairo, stay in, 725 
Cairoli, premier, 729 
Cannibals in the North, 62 n; 518 w 
Canton, 604 

Cape Baranov, 21, 323, 546, 553 
Cape Borchaja, 545 
Cape Chelyuskin, 10, 16 ; arrival at, 256 ; 



INDEX. 



747 



reindeer there, 261, 543 n ; flora, 258 ; 
is discovered, 14, 17, 544 

Cape Descbnev, 450, 535 

Cape Kammeanoj, 554 

Cape Mattesol, 539 

Cape North, 333, 557 

Cape Olenek, 274 

Cape Onman, 345 

Cape Prince of Wales, 567 

Cape Kuski Savorot, 171 ii 

Cape Schaitanskoj, 287 

Cape Schelagskoj, 322, 337, 550 

Cape St. John, 169, 170 

Cape Thaddeus, 17, 542 

Cape Voronov, 167 n 

Cape Yakan, 24, 338 

Carahus trioicaticollis, 441 

Carlsen, Elling, 224, 225, 229 

Carska Bay, 131 

Carthaginians' traffic with African races, 
453 71 

Caspian Sea, former views regarding, 
513 

Castren's Island, 103 

Ceylon, stay at, 707 ; natives, 714 

Chabarova, 60 ; church of, 61 

Chacke, Martin, 559 

Chamisso, A. von, 576 ?i 

Chancelor, Richard, 11, 50; his voyage, 
54 ; his death, 173 n 

Chatanga Bay, 17, 541, 542 

Chatanga river, the, 268, 541, 544 

Cheltinga, midshipman, 548 

Chenizyn, 554, 556 

Cherbinin, Lieut., 544 

China, stay in, 693 ; communication with 
Europe, 283 ; its future, 698 

Chinese in Japan, 669 ; at Hong Kong, 
their treatment, 697 ; in Borneo, 706 

Chiouoscetes opilio, 447, 582 

CholodiloT, 601 ?i 

Chukches, the, compared with other Polar 
races, 73 ; first meeting with, 324]; at 
Cape Yakan, 326 ; barter with the, 
331; at Irkaipij, 339 ; visit the Vega, 
366, 387 ; at Cape Descbnev, 564 ; at 
Konyam Bay, 565, 584, 585 ; on the 
American side of Behring's Straits, 
460, 572 ; divided into reindeer and 
coast Chukches, 460 ; number of, 460 ; 
removals, 467 ; carry ontrafiic between 
America and Siberia, 405, 487; lan- 
■ guage, 368, 460 ; diseases, 461 ; position 
of the women, 504; their history, 
physirjue, disposition, and manners, 451 

Chukotskojnos, 19, 458, 523, 558 

Chvoinoff, landmeasurer, 314, 552 

Chydenius, Carl, 110 

Clarke, Charles, 557 

Clausen, Consul, 727, 728, 730 

Clothing, 31 ; of the Ve<ia men, 358 

Cloudberries, a powerful antiscorbutic, 
34, 38 

Cochrane, John Dundas, 532 

Coffee plantations, 720 

Coleoptera in Novaya Zemlya, 115; 
at Port Clarence, 580 

Collie, Dr., 570 



Colmogro, 172, 518 

Colombo (Ceylon), 715 

Colour-blindness, 501 

Colours, Chukch, 501 

Commander's Islands, 593 

Cook, James, 10, 22, 25, 334, 336 m ; 557 

Cooke, Ulr., 702 

Copenhagen, the Vega calls at, 30; re- 
ception at, 725 

Copper Island, 593, 595, 601, 605 

Corea, whales with European harpoons 
caught at, 203 ; Japanese campaign 
to, 682 

Goregonus caught by the Chukches, 371, 
410 

Corpse found in Chukch Land, 381, 464 

Corundum, 696, 717 

Cosmic dust, 250 

Coughtrie, J. B., 697 

Coxe, J. H. 557 

Croyere, L'Isle de la, 546, 548, 549 

Crustacea, phosphorescent, 441 

Cruys Eiland, 179 

Crystals found on the ice, 249 

Currents in the Siberian Polar Sea, 15 

Cygnus Beicickii, 99 

Cystophora cristata, 127 



D 



Dahl, Captain, 239 

Daibutsu statues, 680 

Dale, Fr. de la, 181, 186 

Dall, W. H. 347, 559, 570 n 

Dallia delicatissinia, 444 

Dallmann, Captain, 238, 272, 347 

Daubree, A., 735 

David, Russian ambassador, 45 

Dawn (vessel), the, 241 

Day-reckoning on board the Vega, 342 n 

De Long, Captain, 369 

Dementiev, 547 

Descbnev Simeon, 18, 19, 22, 535, 545 ; 

voyages of, 523 
Devil's Temple at Ratnapoora, 715 
Diamonds, 710, 712 
Diastylis Rathkei, 152 
Diatoms, fresh-water, on sea-ice, 144 
Dickson Island, 145 " 
Dietary of the expedition, 361 
Diomede Island, 563 
Disco Island, 114 n 
Dittmar, C. von, 458, 487 
Dixon, Alexander C, 707 
Dog-fish, 444 
Dogs, Samoyed, 6Q\ Chukch, 377, 469; 

sacrificed, 592 
Dolgans, 279 

Dolgoi Island, 171, 181, 537 
Donis, Nic, 43 n, 514 
Doria, Marquis, 724 
Dorma, hunter, 229 
Draha alpiiia, 259, 260, 567 
Dredgings, zoological, 133. 150, 247, 262, 

265, 341, 344, 436, 450, 582, 669. 724 
Driftwood, at Port Dickson, 152 ; at 

Beli Ostrow, 154 



748 



INDEX. 



Drums, Shaman, 415, 495 

Dsuugaria, 283 

Diidino, 272, 544; thanksgiving service 

at, 279 
Du Halde, J. B., 535 n 
Durfoorth, Cornelius, 50 
Dutch, first voyage of the, 177 ; second 

voyage, 185 ; third voyage, IBS 
Dwina, the river, 46, 47, 55, 518 
Dyaks, 641 
Dybovski, Benedikt, 619 



E 



Eaeth, changes of the surface of the, 

in the Arctic regions, 330 
East Cape, 450, 535 
Edge, Thomas, 51 n 
Edward VI. of England, 49 
Edward Bonaventure (vessel). 50, 166 ; 

its fate, 173 n 
Egypt, stay in, 725 
Ehlertz, Russian official, 272 n 
Eider, 96, 159 ; import of down, 97 n 
Eisen, G., 115 
Elfving, N. A., 347 
Elliott, H. W., 125, 593 n, 609 n, 610 
Elpidia glacialis, 140, 142 
Emheriza lapponica, 100 n 
Emberiza nivalis, 100 n 
Emeralds, 712 

England, stay in, 732 ; development of 
its navigation, 48 ; north-east voyages 
from, 50, 164 
Enhydris lutris, 598, 602 
Enontekis, the climate of, 38 
Enoshima, excursion to, 634 
Ensamheten (island), 134, 255 
Envall, A., 9 
Erik the Red, 509 
Eschscholz Bay, 558, 570 
Eskimo in North America, 73, 457 n, 508 
Eskimo at Port Clarence, barter with, 
570, 576 ; dress, 573 ; implements, 571, 
574; boats, 570; carvings, 578, 580, 
artistic skill, 500 ; graves, 579 ; religion, 
579 71 
Eskimo in Asia, 565 
Eskimo on St. Lawrence Island, 587 
Eumetopias Stelleri, 602 n, 604, 616 
Europseus, E. D., 156 
Eurynorhynchus pygiiKBUs, 431 
Everlof, Consul-general, 736 
Evertebtates living by turns in fresh and 

salt water, 151 
Exhibitions, Japanese, 632, 688 
Exiles, Siberian, 293 

Express (ship), 7, 59, 133, 144, 153; 
voyage of, 270 



Faddetev Island, 552, 553 
Falcons on Yalmal, 159 
Falmouth, arrival at, 732 
Feodor, the Cossack, 149, 271 



Figurin, the surgeon, 556 

Finmark, the settlement of, 43 

Fins carry on navigation, in the Murman 

Sea, 167, 182 
Finch, Richard, 61 «, 131 
Finsch, O., 157 
Fire-drill, Chukch, 489 
Fixed dwellings, 146 n 
Flawes, Captain, 199 
Fletcher, Giles, 80 
Fohn wind, the, 2ll, 424 
Fomin, the Yakut, 14 
Food-plants, Chukch, 481 
Ford, Charles, 697 
Foreland Sound, the, 107 
Fossil plants at Mogi, 690; at Labuan, 

701 ; in Egypt, 725 
Foul Bay, 84, 137 
Fox, the Arctic (or mountain), 113, 432, 

600 ; common, ih. 
Foyn, Svend, 130 
Fra Mauro's map, 516 
Franklin, Martin, 727 
Franz Josef Land, 139 n, 204, 230, 318 
Eraser (steamer), 7, 59, 133, 143, 145, 

243 ; voyage, 270 
Fretum Nassovicum (Yugor Schar), 11, 

131, 186 
Frost-bite, 347, 461 
Frost-formation, the Siberian, 445 
Frozen ground in Finland, 445 n 
Fruholm, the climate of, 37 n 
Fuligula glacialis, 98 ; found during the 

expedition, 436 

Stelleri, 430 

Fusiyama, 622, 674 
Fusus deforinis, 582 



G 



Gadus navaga, 662 

Gagarin, Prince, 531 

Gama, Vasco da, 515 

Gardiner, Charles, 230 

Geertz, Dr., 643, 670 

Geflferson, William, 50 

Gessner, Conrad, 576 n 

Gillissy (Yenisej), 187 

Giusso, Count, 727 

Glacier-iceblocks in the Polar seas, 319 ; 

burst asunder, 320 
Glaciers, various kinds of, 136; formerly 

in North-Eastern Asia, 585 
Gmelin, 549 
Gold lustre, stones with, on Novaya 

Zemlya, 209, 211 
Gold diggings, Siberian, 297 
Golovin, second mate, 538 
Golovin, Captain, 646 
Goltschicha, 146, 149, 239 
Gooseland, 57, 98 
Goreloj, Andrej, 526 
Gorm (larva of Oestrus tarandi), 106 ; 

495, 507 
Gosho, palace in Kioto, 677 
Gothenburg, 30 
Goiilden, Captain, 203 



INDEX. 



r49 



Gourdon, William, 196 

Graculus hia'istatus, 342 

Grandidier, 733 

Granite, weathered, 710 

Grant, U. S., General, 648 

Graphite, 576 

Graves, Siberian, 297 ; Chukch, 330, 465, 
568 ; Eskimo, 579 

Grebnitski, 617 n, 618 

Greeks, geographical ideas of the, 511 

Green Harbour, 106 

Greenland said to be continuous with 
Norway, 43 ; Inland-ice, 135 

Greenland seal, 126, 127 

Greenlander's dress, 35 ; compared with 
other Polar races, 72, 508 ; are descended 
from Norse colonists, 509 

Grevy, President, 734, 735 

" Grip-claws " found in Siberia, 308 

Gubin, mate, 209 

Gundersen, captain of the Express, 8 

Gundersen, M., 230 

Gusinnaya Semlya, see Gooseland 

Gustaf Vasa's plan of a north-east pas- 
sage, 47 

Guturov, Peter, 530 

Gvosdarev, mate, 214 

Gvosdev, Michael, 455, 557 n 

Gyda Bay' surveyed, 539 

Gygax, Dr., 710 



H 



Haga dust, the, 251 

Haimann, Guiseppe, 725 

Hakluyt, Richard, 50 n 

Hall, Captain, 55S 

Halo, refraction, 391, 392 

Hnmy, Dr., 133 

Hardy, R. Spence, 639 

Harelda qlacialis, 253 

Hares, 383, 431 ; snow-blind, 3S3 

Hartman, Hendrik, 186 

Haven, P. von, 539 k 

Health, state of, during the wintering, 

360 
Hecht, 734 
Hedeustrom, 20, 111, 307 ; travels, 552; 

life, 556 n 
Heemskerk, 195 
Hellaut, A., 399 n 
Hennessy, Pope, 697, 698 
Hens, Jacob, 455 
Herald Island, 558 
Herbertstein, Sigismund von, 45, 517 
Herdebol, ore-tester, 455 
Herodotus on the geography of Asia, 511, 

515 ; on Androphagi, 62 n, 518 n 
Heuglin, Baron von, 230 n 
Hideycshi, Taiko, 682 
Hinloopen Strait, 87, 88, 107 
Hirosami, 686 

Hhtriophoca fasciata, 563, 567, 591 
Holland, development of its navigation, 

177 
Holmgren, A. E., 115 
Holmgren, Fr., 500 



Holstein-Holsteinborg, Count, 736 
Homer, 511 

Hong Kong, 698 ; rocks at, 711 
Hooper, 458, 495, 564 a, 565, 576 n, 584, 

587 
Hoorn, Jan Cornelisz van, 197 
Hope Island, 128 
Horn Sound, 86, 96, 107, 222 
Hovgaard, A., 3, 32, 74, 143, 153, 155 

160, 345, 374, 432, 482, 485, 644, 730 

Excursion to Menka's home, 377 

portrait, 731 
Hudson, Henry, 196 
Hugo, Victor, 735 
Humbert, King, 729 
Hyacinth (precious stone), 713 



Ice, different kinds of, in the Polar Seas, 

318 ; action on the sea-bottom, 143 ; 

thickness during the wintering, 351 
Icebergs, 138 ; size of, 318 
Ice Fjord, 88, 107, 261 
Icing down, 340 
Ides, Evert Yssbrants, 305 
Idlidlja (island), 418 
Jdothea entomon, 152, 313, 314, 317 

Sctbinei, 152, 313, 315 

Ignatiev, 522 

Ikaho, 649 

Ilgin, mate, 556 

Illusions caused by mist, 263, 422 

Indians, driven, 44 

Indigirka, 545 

Ingoe, 34 

Inland-ice, 135, 139, 585 

Inland Sea of Japan, 686, 712 

Inn, Japanese, 634, 637 

Insects, 114, 155, 259, 440, 580 ; frozen 

stiff, 115, 240 ; in a bird's nest, 92 
Lisula Tazata, 517 
Irgunnuk, 366, 412 
Irkaipij, 333, 557 
Irtisch, 283, 519, 534 
Islands in the Siberian Sea, accounts of, 

18,526,527,528 n 
Isleif , 112 

Istoma, Gregory. 45 
Italy, 726 
Ito-Keske, 642 
Ivanov, mate, 212 
Ivanov, Rodivan, 206 
Iven, 732 
Ivory coat of mail, 478 



Jackman's voyages, 174, 176 » 

Jakovlev, Peter, 605 

Janszoon, Harman, 186 

Japan, 693 

Japanese, 530, 536 

Japanese voyage round the world, 124 u ; 

shop, 672 
Jeanndt}, the expedition of the, 3u9 



750 



INDEX. 



Jinrikisha, 636 

Johannes de Piano Carpini, 82 Ji 

Johannesen, Ghr., 7, 229, 267, 276, 277 

Johannesen, Edward, 141, 225 

Johannesen, Soren, 229 

Jovius, Paulus, 48 n 

Jugaria, 131 

Juschkov, 209 



K 



Kaiias river, the, 702 

Kamakura, 635 

Kamchatka, discovered, 529 ; subjugated, 
525 ; first voyage to, 531 ; its extent 
towards the south in old maps, 535 » 

Kamchatka river, the, 529 

Kamenni Ostrova, 243 

Kampfer, E., 643 

Kanin-nos, 170 

Karaginsk Island, 592 

Kara port, the, 12 ; Pet sails through it, 
175 

Kara river, wintering at the, 537 

Kara Sea, the, voyage across, 141 ; its 
name, 132 ; its boundaries, 133 ; depth, 
13, 140, 143 ; temperature of the water, 
140 ; salinity, 144; faima, 140 ; algas, 
141 ; icebergs uncommon in, 139 ; " ice- 
house," 139 ; navigated for the first 
time by "West-Europeans, 174 ; voyages 
to, 218 

Kargauts, 338 

Karlskrona, 30 

Karmakul Bay, 97, 196 

Kascholong, 577 n 

Kawamura, Admiral, 624, 630, 673 ; por- 
trait of, 625 

Kay, E. C. Lister, 229 

Kegor, 186 

Kellett, 558 

KeUett Land, 558 

Keswick, 697 

Keulen's Atlas, 453 

Kilduin, 181 

Killingworth, George, 54 

Kindakov, 545 

Kmg's Bay, 107 

King Karl's Land, 103 n 

Kini Balu mountain, 706 

Kioto, 671, 675, 678 

Kirilov, secretary, 537 

Kita-Shira-Kava, 627, 630 

Kittiwake, see Larustriclactylus 

Kittlitz, 594 - 

Kjellman, F. E., 3, 34, 141, 145, 150, 154 n, 
155 n, 243, 244, 249, 253 k, 259, 268 lu, 
329, 341, 354, 380, 393, 407, 567, 580, 
584, 590, 617, 618, 707, 720, 730 ; sketch 
of a day during the wintering, 387 ; 
portrait, 722 

Klapmyts, 127 

Klingstedt, 207 n, 208 » 

Klokov, 213 

Knoop, Baron, 272 n 

Koba-Yaschi, 673, 683 

Kobe, stay at, 670 

Koch, 114 - 



Kola, 166 «, 194 «, 195 

Kolesoff, I. P., 274, 276 

Kolgujev Island, 51 n, 175 

Kolmogor, 173, 517 n 

Kolmogorsov, 19 

Kolyma river, the, 322, 522, 524, 525, 546, 

550 : discovered, 522 - 
Kolyutschin Bay, 569, 585 ; Veqa comes 

to, 345 ; its extent, 421, 422, 456 
Kolyutschin Island, 344, 366 
Kompakova river, the, 532 
Kouungs skuggja on the walrus, 123 
Konyam Bay, 565, 569 ; Veya comes to, 

584 
Kopai, a Schelag, 528 
Korepovskoj, 248, 270 
Korovin, hunter, 605, 606 n 
Koryaks, 460, 525, 529 
Koscheleff , 492 n 
Koschelev, 539 
Koschevin, 553 
Kosirevskoj, Ivan, 530 
Kosmin, mate, 556 
Kostin Schar, 180 
Kotelnoj Island, 20, 552, 553, 555 
Kotsches, 19 n, 520 n 
Kotschuga, 284 
Kotzebue, 25, 558, 570 n ; stay at St. 

Lawrence Island, 591 
Krascheninnikov, 458, 525 n, 529 n 
Krassilinikoff, 604 
Krestovski Island, 521 
Kjfestovskoj, 148 
Krestovskoj arm, the, 542 
Kroma river, the, 526 
Krotov, Lieut., 213 
Krusenstern, M. von, 124 n, 492 n 
Ki-usenstern, Paul von, the elder, 217 
Krusenstern, Paul von, the younger, 219 ; 

his portrait, 218 
Kiiber, Dr., 556 
Kiihn, Franz, 728 
Kurbski, S. T., 518 
Kuro-Sivo, 620 
Kusakov, 527 
Kusatsu, stay at, 656 ; the healing power 

of the baths, 657 
Kutschum Khan, 519 
Kythay lacus, 518 



Labuan, 700 

Lagomys, 565 

Lagercrautz, 736, 738 

Lagoon formations, 327 

Laqopus liyperhoreus, 101, 146, 164, 245, 

384 
Lagoims siibalpinus, 433 
La Madelene, 561 
La Martiniere, 197 ; his map, 198 
Laminaria soiidungula, 341 
Lamps, Chukch, 413 
Landmarks, 175 
Laud worms, 115 
Languet, Hubert, 47 
Lapland, the Dutch uavigatfon to, 174 n 
Lapps, the, dress, 34; spoken of by Othere, 



INDEX. 



751 



41 n, 43 ; compared with other Polar 
races, 72; skilful hunters, 172 n 

Lapp sparrow, see Emheriza lajjponica 
Laptev, Chariton, 17, IS, 277 n; voyages, 

542 
Laptev, Dmitri, 21 ; first voyage, 544 ; 
second voyage, 546 

La Eonciere le Noury, 734 

Larus eburneus, 92, 502 ; met with during 

expedition, 259, 430 
glaucus, 89; met with during ex- 
pedition, 146, 245, 267, 430 
Rossii, 93, 430 

SaUnii, 93, 383 

— • tridactyhis, 92 ; seen during ex- 
pedition ,253, 267, 430 

Lasarev, 212 

Lassinius, 21, 539 n ; voyage, 544 

Laxman, 646 

Lectures during the wintering, 400 

Lemming, the, 113 ; met with during the 
expedition, 146, 259, 329, 432 

Lena (river), the, ascent of, 278 ; river 
area, 282 n ; navigable, 283 ; its natural 
beauty, 540 n ; discovered, 530 ; Russian 
voyages from, 540, 544 

Lena (steamer), 5, 7, 33, 60, 131, 143, 
153 ; parting from Vega, 269 ; voyage 
up the river Lena, 278 

Lena delta, the, 277 n 

Leontiev, 552 

Leprosy in Japan, 657 

Lesseps, 726 

Lestris Buffonii, 94, 253 

' parasitica, 94, 245, 253 

2^omarina, 94 

Letters sent home, 374, 378, 402 

Leuchtenberg, 729 

Lighthouse Island, 323 

Lilljeborg, W., 441 

Limit of trees in the north of Europe 
and Asia, 36 ; at the Lena, 37 ; at the 
Yenisej, 287 

Lindstrand, 727 

LiancBa borcalis, 580, 590 

Linnteus, 431 

Linschoten, 181, 182 

Lisbon, stay in, 730 

L'Isle de la Croyere, 546, 548, 549 

Little Auk, see Merqulus alle 

Ljachoff, 315,317,552 

Ljachoff's Island, 521, 550, 552; Vega 
comes to, 313 

Logan, J., 302 

Lomme Bay, 88 

London, stay at, 733 

Long, Captain, 22, 588 

Loons met with at Port Dickson, 146, 267 

Loschkiu, S., 209, 214 

Loshak, 172 

Lotterus, map by, 456 

Louise (steamer), 339, 272 n 

Ludlow, miner, 212 

Luiz, King of Portugal, 730 

Lundstrom, A. N., 2, 148, 158, 

Lussov, 552 

Liitke, von, 11, 212, 458, 558, 584; 
portrait, 213 



M 



MacClintock, 93 

Machimura Masinovo, 683 

Mack, F. E., 228 

Madvig, J. N., 736 

Maelson, F., 177 

Magnetical observations during the 
wintering, 384 

Magnus, Johannes, 43 n 

Magnus, Olaus, 113, 122; map of the 
North, 44, 47 ; views regarding the 
North-east Passage, 44 n 

Miiklin, F. W., 115 

Malacca, Straits of, 707 

Malays on Labuan and Borneo, 702, 705 

Maldonado, L. F., 560 

Malgin, N., 526 

Malm, A. W., 393 

Malmgren, A. J., 92 

Maloj Island, 552, 553 

Malvano, Secretary of the Italian Cabinet, 
729 

Malygin, 155, 208, 537 

Mammoth, 20, 26, 301, 336 n ; in Europe, 
302; in Chukch Land, 449; at Bsch- 
scholz Bay, 570 n ; old accounts of, 
305 ; legends regarding its mode of 
life, 305 

Maosoe, stay at, 35, 57 ; climate, 38 

Maps of the North, 43 

Marco Polo, see Polo 

Markets in Siberia and Polar America, 
405, 487 

Markham, Clements E., 732 

Markov, A., 527 

Marmots from Chukch Land, 433 

Marseilles, invitation to, 730 

Martino, Consul-general, 726 

Massa, Isaak, 587 n; his map, 172 n 
181 n ; 519 n 

Massage in Japan, 650 

Matiuschin, midshipman, 487 n 

Matotschkin Schar, 12, 56, 215 ; mountains 
in its neighbourhood, 132 ; stone ram- 
parts on its shores, 144 ; surveyed, 215 

Matveyev Island, 208 

Maunoir, 734 

Maurice Island, 185 

Maydell, G. von, 309, 458 

Medals in memory of the voyage of the 
Vega, 628, 738 n 

Melchior, state councillor, 736 

Melguer, David, 561 

Melkaja Guba, 216 

Menka, 373, 378, 492 ; portrait, 373 

Ifergulus alle, 86 

Mertens, 584 

Mesen, 43, 63 

Mesenkin, 287 ; mammoth remains found 
at, 309 

Messerschmidt, 306 n ; 

Mestui Island, 133, 175, 185, 227 

Meteorological observations, 363, 423 

Metridia armata, 441 

Metschigme Bay, 419, 569 

Meyenwaldt, mate, 163, 317 

Micralymma Licksoni, 259 



752 



INDEX. 



Middendorff , 14, 306 ?i, 585 n 

Migrating birds, 429 

Mikado, audience of, 627 

Miller, 347 

Mimisuka, the grave of the noses and 

ears, 682 
Minin, 14, 539, 540 
Minusinsk, 283 
Mirabelli, A., 728 
Mogi, excursion to, 689 ; fossil plants at, 

690 
Mohn, 229 

Moisture in the air, 364, 365 
Mokattam mountains, excursion to, 725 
Molin, A., 531 n 
Mollusca, land and fresh-water, at Port 

Clarence, 581 ; at Konyam Bay, 584 ; 

in Japan, 669, 675 ; the northernmost, 

584 n 
Mollusca, subfossil, in Siberia, 278 n, 288 
Moma, the river, 526 
Moore, Captain, 458, 558, 584 
Morgiouets, 170 
Mormon Arcticus, 88 
Morosko, L., 529 
Moskwa (steamer), 272 
Mosquitoes in the Polar regions, 114 n 
Motora, Simeon, 524 
Moxon, Joseph, 202 
Mucheron, B., 177 
Miiller, G. P., 13 n, 18, 22, 523, 525 a, 

528, 537, 549, 599 n 
Miiller, J. B., 305 
Miinster, S., 517 re 
Muravjev, Lieut., 208, 537 
Murman Sea, 11 
Murray, Colin, 707 
Muscovy Company, 131, 165 
Musk ox, discovery of the remains of, 

310, 570 ?i. ; supposed occurrence of, on 

Wrangel Land, 339 n 
Mustela vulgaris, 433 
Mutnaja river, 205 
Mutnoj Saliv, 537 
Myodes obeiisis, 113, 432 
Ml/odes torquatus, 432 

N 

Nagasaki, arrival at, 688 

Nakasendo road, the, 644, 662 

Namollo, 459, 565 

Naples, stay at, 727 

Narainzay river, 172 

Narborougb, John, 200 

Narwhal, 125, 315 n 

Narontza river, 172 n 

Nathorst, A. G., 690, 692, 701 

Nay, C, 178 ' 

Nearchus, 129 

Nedrevaag, A. O., 228 

Negri, C, 34, 727, 729 

Nephrite among the Eskimo, 577 ; among 

the Chinese, 577 n, 696 
Neremskoe, 132 
Neumann, C. von, 458, 487 n 
New Siberian Islands, 19, 102 w, ,103, 

411 ; 528 n ; exploratory journeys to, 



311 ; first visited by Europeans, 552 ; 
journeys to, 553 

Nierop, Van, 156 

Nikul river, 525 n 

Nilson, Eouzeaud, K., 734 

Njaskaja, 280 

Noah Elisej, 437 ; portrait, 437, 438 

Noah's Wood, 26, 159, 287, 556 n 

Nobel, A., 733 

Nordenskiold, K., 329 ; 250, 700 n 

Nordeiiskiold (steamer), Q22, 624 

Nordquist, O., 3, 30, 32, 143, 153, 155, 
243, 245, 249, 335, 336 n, 369, 374, 379, 
404, 409, 431, 460, 485, 634, 669, 678 ; 
excursion to Menka's home, 374 ; visit 
to Pidlin, 379 ; excursion to Nutsch- 
oitjin, 410 ; on the animals wintering 
in Chukch Land, 431 

Nordvik, 542 

Noril Mountains, 272 

North-east Land, inland ice on, 134 

North-east Passage, reasons of search for, 
48, 177 ; prize for its discovery, 188, 189 

North Pole, said to have been reached, 
202 

Norways, the, 86 

Norfchbrook, Earl of, 732 

Notti, 400, 410, 413, 496 ; portrait, 401 

Novara Elliya, 720 

Novaya Sibir, 552, 553, 554 

Novaya Zernlya, animal life there, 83; 
first known to West-Europeans, 164 ; 
its name, 165 ; Russian landmarks on, 
174 n ; its northern extremity passed 
for the first time, 190; proposal to 
colonise it, 207 ; supposed riches in 
metals, 212 ; Russian voyages to, 214 ; 
Norwegian voyages to, 224 ; circum- 
navigation of, 226 

Nummelin, G. A., 161, 239 ; portrait, 241 

Nunamo, 565 

Nutschoitjin, excursion to, 409 



O 



Ob, Gulf of, Owzyn's voyage on, 538 ; 
surveyed, 539, ih. 

Ob, river territory, 282 ; navigable, 283 : 
first mentioned, 518 n ; Russian naviga- 
tion to in former times, 173, 187, 207 ; 
English vessel stranded at, 176 7i, 196, 
197 ; vessel stranded east of, 207 ; 
Russian expedition to, 537 ; recent 
voyages to, 238 

Obdorsk, 157, 221, 538, 539 

Observatory, magnetical, at Pitlekaj, 
356, 384 

Okotsk, 530 

Okotsk, Sea of, bottom frozen, 445 n ; 
navigation on, 531, 532 

Oiwake, 662 

Okuschi, Mr., 670 

Old Believers, Russian sect, 63, 207 n 

Olonek river, 17, 23, 520, 541, 542 

Olutorsk river, 523 

Onkilon tribe, the, 459, 565 ; excavations 
on the sites of old dwellings, 335 ; 



INDEX. 



753 



implements, 335; "Wrangel's accoimt 
of them, 336 

Oom, L. G., 186 

Oordt, Cousul van, 622 

Ophiacantha hidentata, 262 

Ophiocjlypha nodosa, 435 

Orange Island, 185 

Orange Islands, 179, 190 

Orca (jladiatoi\ 130 

Oroslus, Paulus, 39 

Osaka, 671, 675 

Oscar, Duke of Gotland, 734, 735 

Oscar, King, 2, 3, 738, 740 

Osche, 608 

Oshima, 622 

Osmerus eperlanus, 372 

Ostatiof, M., 453 

Ostyaks, 291 

Otaria Stelleri, see Sea-lion 

tirsina, see Sea-bear : 

Othere, 122 ; voyage, 40 

Otter, F. ^Y. von, 2, 740 

Owl, snowy, 102 ; observed during ex- 
pedition, 259, 267 

Owzyn, Lieut., 14, 538, 539 



Pachtussov, voyages of, 212 ; death of, 
215 

Paget, Sir A. B., 722 

Paj-Koi mountain, the, 59 

Palander, L., 3, 7, 8 n, 9, 30, 32, 109, 
132, 134, 145, 243, 264, 324, 344, 357, 
360, 384, 450, 491, 569, 592, 622, 697, 
704, 706, 727, 729, 730, 733 n, 741; 
excursion to a reindeer-chukch camp, 
460 ; portrait, 406 

Pallas, 558, 605 

Pallavicini, Prince, 729 

Palliser, John, 225 

Palmieri, Prof. 728 

Panelapoetski, 201 

Pansch, Dr., 109 n 

Pappan Island, 703 

Perideniya, botanic garden at, 717 

Parent, E., 729 

Taris, fetes at, 734 

Parositi, Asiatic tribe, 82 n 

Parry Island, 88, 103 

Parry, Sir Edward, 508, 556 

Paulov, Lieut., 208, 537 

Paulutski, D., 455, 565 

Payer, 204, 318 

Pedrotalagalla, 707, 720 

Pekarski, 605 

PeUkan, Consul, 622 

Penschina Bay, 455 

Penschina River, 524 

Permakov, J., 527 

Perry, Commodore, 621 

Pet, A., 50, 131 ; his voyages, 174 

Petzora river, 46, 167, 172, 518 

Peter the Great, 531, 534 

Petermann, A., his belief that the Polar 
Sea is occasionally navigable, 203 



Petersen, C, 111, 319 

Petropaulovsk, 546, 599, 618 

Pet's Straits, 131 

Phalarope, 100, 146, 244; observed 

during the expedition, 313, 329,430 
Philip and Mai'y (vessel), 173 n 
Phipps Island, 103 
Phoca hm-hata, 123 n, 125, 259 
Groenlandica, 125 ; young of the, 

126 

hispida, 125, 252 

Pidlin, 366; excursion to, 379 

Pinto, Major, 732 

Piper, Count, 732 

Pitlekaj, 366; flora at, 354; appearance 

of, 444, 445 
Pjasina Eiver, 146, 520 ; is discovered, 

520_ 
Plancius, Dutch geographer, 177 
Pleuropogon Sabini, 253 n 
Pliny the elder, 513, 518 n 
Plover expedition, 458, 584 
Podurids, Novaya Zemlya, 114 
Poetry, Japanese, 683 
Pogytscha, River, 521 
Point de Galle, arrival at, 707 ; departure 

from, 723 
Polar bear seen during the expedition, 

145, 256, 267 ; account of, 107 
Polar Sea hunting, 222 
Pole of cold, 357 
Police in Japan, 647 
Polo, Marco, 48, 112, 516, 517 n; his 

life, 515 
Polynias, 352 

Pompeii, excursion to, 728 
Pontchartrin, Count de, 561 
Poole, J., 222 
Popov, 457 

Porcelain manufacture in Japan, 682 
Port Clarence, 569 
Port Dickson, 15 ; stay at, 144 ; its 

discovery, 237 
Porthan, 40 
Portugal, stay in, 730 
Pospjelov, 212 
Postels, 584 
Postnik, 521 

Potatoes, antiscorbutic, 9 
Preobraschenie Island, 268 
Pribylov, 558 
Pribylov Islands, 593 n 
Priluschnoj, 149 
Procellaria (/lacialis, 85 
Fromonturium Scythicum, 515 

Tabin, 515 

Prontschischev, 17, 540, 541 

Protodiakonoff, Z., 316 

Proven (limiting sloop), 1, 223 

Provision depot on land, 346 

Ptolemy, 514 

Purchas, 51 n 

Puschkarev, 552 

Pustosersk, 60 

Putrefaction slow in the Polar regions, 

128 
Pyramids, the, visit to, 725 



3 D 



754 



INDEX. 



Q 



QuAEN Sea, 164 

Quaens, skilful harpoon ers, 172 

Quale, P., 228 

Quatrefage, M., 734 

R 

Rabattt, a., 730 
Railway, Siberian, 284 
Rambodde, 720 
Ratnapoora, 710 
Eecherche's wintering, 425 
Red ochre, 576 
Red Sea, 724 

Reindeer, tarae, 62 ; wild, 103 
Reindeer's skin used for clothing, 30 
Reindeer's stomach, contents of, con- 
sumed by the Chukches, 327 
Reitinacka, 442 
Rence, 36 
Bhinoceros antiquitatis, 306 

—■ Iferckii, 310 

Rhytina, 603 

Riccio, 728 

Richter, Consul-general, 732 

Rijp, 189 

Riksdag, the, supports the expedition, 6 

Rio-San, 683 

Rirajtinop, 366 

Robeek, 558 

Rodge^s, 22 

Rokuriga-hara, 660 

Romanzov, 552 

Rondes (sable), 112 

Rookery, 610 

Rossmuislov, 209 

Rotgansen, 189 

Rotschilten, 407, 421 

Roule, C, 199 

Rubies, 710 

Ruggieri, Prof., 728 

Ruin-like rock formations, 323 

Runeberg, R., 7 

Ruspoli, Prince, 729 

Russians, at Chabarova, 62 



S 



Sabinea septemcarinata, 434 

Sachanich Bay, 181 n 

Sacrificial- heights, 73 

Saigo Kichinosuke, 626 

Sajsan, Lake, 283^ 

Salix artica, 448 

Samoyeds, 60 ; their idols, 67, 75 ; their 
dress, 71 ; compared with other Polar 
races, 72 ; burying-place, 77 ; their 
weapons, 79; old accounts of them, 
79 ; their place in ethnography, 103 

Samurai, 679 

Sandman, Captain, 619 

Sandpiper, see Phalarope 

Sankin, Grigorej, 527 

Sannikov, 20 

Sanyo Sanitomi, 626 



Saostrovskoj, 237 

Sapetto, Prof., 724 

Sapphires, 710 

Satow, E. M., 639 

Sauer, Martin, 315 n 

Savavatari, 651 

Savina river, 214 

Schalaurov, 549 

Schelags, 528 

Schelechov, G., 601 n 

Scheltinga, 548 

Schestakov, A., 454 

Schigansk, 280 

Schmidt, P., 309 

Schmidt, H., 272 n 

Schrenck, L. von, 310 

Schtinnikov, A., 536 

Schwanenberg, D., 8, 240 

Scoresby, 111 

Scurvy, 38, 620 

Sea-bear, the, 603 

Sea-cow, 603 

Sea-lion, 336 n, 602 

Sea-otter, 598, 602 

Sea-spider, 265 

Seals, 125 

Sealskin used as clothing, 30 « 

Searchthrift (vessel), 166 

Seebohm, Mr., 239 

Selenetz Islands, 174 

Selenga, 284 

Selenuoe Lake, 205 

Self-dead animals, 246 

Selifontov, 156 

Selivaninskoj, 293 

Selivestrov, 525 

Semenoffski Island, 313 

Semipalitiusk, 283 

Senjavin Sound, 584 

Senkiti-San, 650 

Serdze Kamen, 353 

Seribrenikoff, S. J., 33 

Seven Islands, 92 

Severnoe Siavie, 162 

Shamans, 495 

Shaman drums. 415 

Shimonoseki, 687 

Shintoism, 680 

Sibbern, 734 

Siberian Polar Sea, 24 

Siberian cattle plague, 63 

Sibir, 519 

Sibiriakoff, A., 2, 3, 7, 20 

Sidoroff, M., 162 

Sidoroff's graphite quarry, 576 n 

Siebold, P. H. F. von,643 

Siebold, H. von, 643 

Sieversia glacialis, 151 

Simonsen, 229 

Simovies, 146 

Simpson, John, 487 n 

Singapore, 707 

Singhalese, 714 

Sirovatskoj, 552 

Skoptzi in Siberia, 293 

Skuratov, 156 

Slaves among the Chukches, 493 

Sledges, 65 



INDEX. 



755 



Smitt, F. A., 444 
Snobberger, C. P., 199 
Snow-bUndness, 359, 403 
Snow-drifting, 364 
Snow-sboes, 475 
Snow-spectacles, 359, 403 
Snow, tbe melting of the, 423 
Snaps, M., 518 n 
Sokolov, 532 
Solovets, 518 _ 
Somateria molissima, 96 

spectahilis, 96, 430 

V.-nigruni, 430 

Spangberg, Martin, 534 

Spinel, 713 

Spirits, 332, 405, 485, 487 

Spitzbergen hunting, history of, 222 

Spitzbergen, its discovery ascribed to 

Willoughby, 51 n ; discovered by 

Barents, 190 ; Russian voyages to, 223 ; 

Norwegian voyages to, 224 
Spottiswoode, Mr., 733 
Springs, hot, 656 
St. James's Islands, 171 
St. Laurens Bay, 181 
St. Lawrence Bay, 558, 562 
St. Lawrence Island, 118, 587 
Stegocephalus Kessleri, 434 
Stellar, G. N., 458, 539 n, 549, 598 ; his 

death, 600 
Steppes, Siberian, 290 
Sterna manroura, 96 
Stockholm, arrival at, 738 
Stolbovoj island, 313 
Stone Pacha, 725 

Stone polishing works in Canton, 695 
Strabo, 511, 513 
Strahlenberg, 306 n 
Strix nyctea, 102 
Stroganov, Bussian commercial house, 

180% 
Stuxberg, A., 2, 32, 115, 148. 152, 237, 

247, 330, 341, 568, 617, 634, 721; 

portrait, 722 
Suez, arrival at, 725 
Sujeff, student, 141 n 
Swan, Bewick's, 98 
Swedish expedition of 1875, the, 9; visits 

Yalmal, 157 ; reaches the Yenisej, 237 
Swedish prisoners of war in Siberia, 531 
Swell from falling pieces of ice dangerous 

to vessels, 139 n 
Sword-bearing in Japan 697 
Sylvia Ewersmanni 429 
Sylvius, ^neas, 44 n 



T 



Tabin-, Promontorium, 10, 185 

Tagil river, the, 519 

Taimur Island, 252 

Taimur lake, 544 

Taimur Land, inhabited by Samoyeds, 

187 n ; position of its east coast, 267 ; 

Minin's travels along the coast, 540 
Taimur river, the, 309 
Takasima coal mine, 692 



Tamils, 714 

Tanning reindeer hides, 490 

Tas-ary, 274, 279 

Tas river, the, 517, 520 n 

Tatarinov, Feodor, 551 

Tatarinov, Cossack, 554 

Tattooing, Chukch, 376, 472; Eskimo, 
at Port Clarence, 573 ; Eskimo, at St. 
Lawrence island, 588, 589 

Tazata, Insula, 517 

Teano, Prince, 727, 729 

Temples in Japan, 678, 679 ; on Ceylon, 
715 

Tennent, E., 708 n, 710 

Terfins, 41 ii 

Tetgales, B. Y., 178 

Thalassiophyllum Clathrus, 619 

Theel, Hj.,2, 237 

Theatres in Japan, 665 

Thorne, Eobert, 48 n 

Thunberg, C. P., 431, 642 n 

Thwaites, Dr., 717 

Tietgen, state councillor, 736 

Tigil River, the, 325 n, 531 

Tintinyaranga, 384 

Tjapka, Cliukch village, 411 

Tjumen, 519, 600 

Tobacco, its use among the Chukches, 
485 ; in Japan, 639 

Tobiesen, S. K., his voyage to Spitzber- 
gen, 85 M, 109, 112, 117, 229, 231 ; win- 
tering on Bear Island, 231 ; his death, 
233 ; his portrait, 231 

Tobol river, the, 519 

Tobolsk, 261, 539 

Tokaido road, the, 634 

Tokio, visit to, 626 ; the Shoguns' 
graves at, 631 

Topaz, 696, 710 

Toporkoff Island, 617 

Torosses, 321, 349, 396 

Toxar Island, 181, 182 

Treacher, Governor, 702 

Trees, distribution of, in Siberia, 289 

Tringa maritima, 430 

Trofimov's mammoth, 308 

Tromsoe, Vega's stay at, 33 ; its climate. 
37 n 

Tumat Island, 274 

Tundra, appearance of the, 286, 287, 290 

Tunguses, 291, 308, 542, 543 

U 

Umbellula in the Kara Sea, 140 
Ural-Altaic race, 81 
Uria Briianichii, 87 

grylle, 89 

Urusov, Prince, 728 
Ustjansk, 553, 654 
Usui-toge, 662 



Vabdoe, 52, 53 ; climate of, 38 n 
Varzina river, the, 54 
Varthema, Ludovico de, 724 



756 



INDEX. 



Vasa Murrhina, 577« 

Vaygats Island, 62, 74 ; discovered, 164 ; 

visited by Pet, 174, 175 
Yeer, GPerrit de, 81 ; his book, 188 
Veaa, the, purchased, 6 ; description of, 

7; equipment of, 9; position when 

frozen in, 353 ; action of cold on 352 ; 

prepared for wintering, 354 ; repaired, 

693 ; sold, 740 
Vessels, Norse, 42; Eussian, on the 

Polar sea, 167 
Ylamingh, 199 

Volcanic dust in Scandinavia, 251 
Volcanoes, 587 
Vulpes lagopus, see Fox, Arctic 
vulgaris, see Fox, common 



^Y 



WiERN, C. F., 6 

Waldburg-Zeil, Count, 157 

"Walden Island, 88 

Walrus, 117 

Walton, Lieut., 548 

Wax tree, the Japanese, 688 

Waxel, Lieut., 547 

Weasel, 433 

Werchojansk, 310 

AVerkon, the river, 550 

Weyprecht, 204 

Whales, on the coast of Norway, 41 ; 
scarce at Novaya Zemlya, 129 ; fear 
of, in ancient times, 129, 130; with 
European harpoons, found in the Paci- 
fic, 202, 203 

Whale bones on Spitzbergen, 129 ; sub- 
fossil at Pitlekaj, 391, 392 ; used as 
building materials, 566; at St. Law- 
rence Island, 589 

Whale-fishing, described by Albertus 
Magnus, 123 n ; at Spitzbergen, 129 

Whale mummy at Pitlekaj, 393 

White-fronted goose, 97 

White Island, see Beli Ostrov 

White Sea, the, 164 

White whale, the, 63, ]28 

Widmark, H. A., 424 w 

Wiemut, Julian, 620 

Wiggins, J., portrait, 237, 239 

Wilkoffski, 577 11 

Willoughby, Sir Hugh, portrait, 11, 48, 
49 

Willoughby's Laud, 51 n 

Wilui river, the, 306 

Wood, Captain, 200 

Woodcock, James, 176 n 

Wosnessenski, conservator, 606 

Wrangel, Ferdinand von, 20, 203, 337, 
457 ; journeys, 556 ; portrait, 555 



Wrangel Land, 19, 23, 338, 528 n, 551, 

556 ; landing on, 557 n 
Wrestlers, Japanese, 653 
Wulfstan's travels, 42 



Yakovieva, 238 

Yakuts, 291, 520 n 

Yakutsk, 16, 19, 21, 23, 280, 281, 540, 
542, 544 _ 

Yalmal, excursion to, 154; visited in 
1875, 157 ; population, 156 ; origin of 
the name, 157 ; old accounts of, 156 ; 
surveyed, 538 

Yana river, the, 315 

Yanimoto, 673 

Yefremov Kamen, 2§5 

Yekargauls, 375 

Yelmert, 155 

Yelmert Land, 158 

Yenisej,the, voyages of \ihe Fraser and 
the Express up, 270; ascent of, in 
1875, 293 ; river territory, 281 ; navig- 
able, 283; its banks, 285, 286; 
vegetation on, 287 ; steamers on, 298 ; 
discovered, 520; Russian navigation 
on, in former times, 185, 186 ; Russian 
sea, expeditions to, 538 ; Minin's 
voyages on, 539 ; later voyages to, 237 

Yermak, schooner, 217, 220 

Yenisej, mouth of the, map of, 147 ; 
formerly inhabited, 146 ; winter at, 150 

Yettugin, 420, 449, 493 

Yii gate, the, 696 

Yinretlen, 365 

Yiiier (steamer), 1,'8 h, 238, 270, 271 

Yokohama, 621 ; arrival at, 620 ; depar- 
ture from, 693 

Yokosuka, 693 

Yolclia Artica, 152 

Young, Sir Allen, 732 

Yugor Schar, 11 ; expedition passes, 31 ; 
rules for sailing through, 32; har- 
bours in, 133; origin of the name, 131; 
Pet did not sail through, 174, 175 ; map 
of, 186 

Yukagires, 455 

Yukagir dwellings, remains of, on the 
New Siberian Islands, 556 



Zaritza (steamer), 272 n, 273 
Zeno 44 ji 

Ziegler's map of the north, 45 
Zivolka, A. K, 216 ; portrait, 217 
Zircon, 713 



THE END, 



LONDON : R. CLAY, SONS- AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS. 



JUN "1334 













7, 








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